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YOUMARES is an annual early-career scientist conference series. It is an initiative of the German Society for Marine Research (DGM) and takes place in changing cities of northern Germany. The conference series is organized in a bottom-up structure: from and for YOUng MARine RESearchers. In this chapter, we describe the concept of YOUMARES together with its historical development from a single-person initiative to a conference venue of about 200 participants. Furthermore, the three authors added some personals experiences and insights, what YOUMARES means to them.

Variability in the tropical Atlantic Ocean is dominated by the seasonal cycle. A defining feature is the migration of the inter-tropical convergence zone into the northern hemisphere and the formation of a so-called cold tongue in sea surface temperatures (SSTs) in late boreal spring. Between April and August, cooling leads to a drop in SSTs of approximately 5°. The pronounced seasonal cycle in the equatorial Atlantic affects surrounding continents, and even minor deviations from it can have striking consequences for local agricultures.

Here, we report how state-of-the-art coupled global climate models (CGCMs) still struggle to simulate the observed seasonal cycle in the equatorial Atlantic, focusing on the formation of the cold tongue. We review the basic processes that establish the observed seasonal cycle in the tropical Atlantic, highlight common biases and their potential origins, and discuss how they relate to the dynamics of the real world. We also briefly discuss the implications of the equatorial Atlantic warm bias for CGCM-based reliable, socio-economically relevant seasonal predictions in the region.

The Earth’s climate is changing and the poles are particularly sensitive to the global warming, with most evident implications over the Arctic. While summer sea ice reduced significantly compared to the previous decades, and the atmospheric warming is amplified over the Arctic, changes in the ocean are less obvious due to its higher inertia. Still, impacts of the changing climate on high-latitude and polar oceans are already observable and expected to further increase. The northern seas are essential regions for the maintenance of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, which in turn is a key aspect of the maritime climate. Alterations in heat and freshwater/salinity content in the Arctic Ocean and adjacent seas impact and are closely linked to buoyancy flux distributions, which control the vertical and horizontal motion of water masses, thus impacting the climate system on a longer time scale. In this context, we set our focus on the Arctic Ocean and Atlantic subarctic seas, review some of the contemporary knowledge and speculations on the complex coupling between atmosphere, sea ice, and ocean, and describe the important elements of its physical oceanography. This assessment is an attempt to raise awareness that investigating the pathways and timescales of oceanic responses and contributions is fundamental to better understand the current climate change.

Light plays an important role in aquatic ecosystems, both marine and freshwater. Penetration of light underwater influences various biogeochemical processes and also influences activities and behavioral patterns of marine organisms. In addition, dissolved and particulate water constituents present in the water column absorb and scatter light, giving water its characteristic color. The concentration or abundance of these constituents, referred to as optically active constituents (OACs) also determine light availability underwater. Thus color being an indicator of water column content, serves as a water quality parameter. Monitoring of the ocean color variables, such as the OAC concentrations and their optical properties, therefore, allows assessment of the health of an ecosystem. Advances in optical methodologies have improved the understanding of our ecosystems through multispectral and hyperspectral in situ measurements and observations. However, the ocean environment is vast and dynamic and so limitations of spatial and temporal coverage have been overcome with satellite remote sensing that provides oceanographers with repeated synoptic coverage. Being recognized as an essential climate variable (ECV) ocean color is monitored as part of the climate change initiative (CCI) of the European Space Agency (ESA). This chapter aims to provide the reader with an overview of the science of ocean color, introducing involved common terminologies and concepts and its global coverage using satellite remote sensing.

Phytoplankton are one of the key players in the ocean and contribute approximately 50% to global primary production. They serve as the basis for marine food webs, drive chemical composition of the global atmosphere and thereby climate. Seasonal environmental changes and nutrient availability naturally influence phytoplankton species composition. Since the industrial era, anthropogenic climatic influences have increased noticeably – also within the ocean. Our changing climate, however, affects the composition of phytoplankton species composition on a long-term basis and requires the organisms to adapt to this changing environment, influencing micronutrient bioavailability and other biogeochemical parameters. At the same time, phytoplankton themselves can influence the climate with their responses to environmental changes. Due to its key role, phytoplankton has been of interest in marine sciences for quite some time and there are several methodical approaches implemented in oceanographic sciences. There are ongoing attempts to improve predictions and to close gaps in the understanding of this sensitive ecological system and its responses.

In the last centuries, new high-throughput technologies, including sequencing and mass-spectrometry, have emerged and are constantly refurbished in order to decipher the molecular code of life. In this review, we summarize the physiological background from genes via transcriptome to proteins and metabolites and discuss the variety of dimensions in which a biological entity may be studied. Herein, we emphasize regulatory processes which underlie the plasticity of molecular profiles on different ome layers. We discuss the four major fields of omic research, namely genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, by providing specific examples and case studies for (i) the assessment of functionality on molecular, organism, and community level; (ii) the possibility to use omic research for categorization and systematic efforts; and (iii) the evaluation of responses to environmental cues with a special focus on anthropogenic influences. Thereby, we exemplify the knowledge gains attributable to the integration of information from different omes and the enhanced precision in predicting the phenotype. Lastly, we highlight the advantages of combining multiple omics layers in assessing the complexity of natural systems as meta-communities and -organisms.

Marine top predators represent an essential part of marine ecosystems. They are generally regarded as “sentinels of the sea” since their presence reflects high biological productivity. However, many populations are experiencing dramatic declines attributed to various human-induced threats (e.g., pollution, climate change, overfishing), highlighting the need for effective conservation. In this review, we show that bio-telemetry can be an essential tool, not only to improve knowledge about the animals’ ecology, but also for conservation purposes. As such, we will first discuss the most important state-of-the-art devices (e.g., time-depth recorders, accelerometers, satellite tags) and illustrate how they can improve our understanding of movement ecology. We will then examine the challenges and ethical issues related to bio-telemetry, and lastly, demonstrate its enormous value in resolving present and future conservation issues.

From the depths of the oceans to the shallow estuaries and wetlands of our coasts, organisms of the marine environment are teeming with unique adaptations to cope with a multitude of varying environmental conditions. With millions of years and a vast volume of water to call their home, they have become quite adept at developing specialized and unique techniques for survival and – given increasing human mediated transport – biological invasions. A growing world human population and a global economy drives the transportation of goods across the oceans and with them invasive species via ballast water and attached to ship hulls. In any given 24-hour period, there are about 10,000 species being transported across different biogeographic regions. If any of them manage to take hold and establish a range in an exotic habitat, the implications for local ecosystems can be costly. This review on marine invasions highlights trends among successful non-indigenous species (NIS), from vectors of transport to ecological and physiological plasticity. Apart from summarizing patterns of successful invasions, it discusses the implications of how successfully established NIS impact the local environment, economy and human health. Finally, it looks to the future and discusses what questions need to be addressed and what models can tell us about what the outlook on future marine invasions is.

Tropical mangrove forests, seagrass beds, and coral reefs are among the most diverse and productive ecosystems on Earth. Their evolution in dynamic, and ever-changing environments means they have developed a capacity to withstand and recover (i.e., are resilient) from disturbances caused by anthropogenic activities and climatic perturbations. Their resilience can be attributed, in part, to a range of cross-ecosystem interactions whereby one ecosystem creates favorable conditions for the maintenance of its neighbors. However, in recent decades, expanding human populations have augmented anthropogenic activities and driven changes in global climate, resulting in increased frequencies and intensities of disturbances to these ecosystems. Many contemporary environments are failing to regenerate following these disturbances and consequently, large-scale degradation and losses of ecosystems on the tropical seascape are being observed. This chapter reviews the wealth of available literature focused on the tropical marine seascape to investigate the degree of connectivity between its ecosystems and how cross-ecosystem interactions may be impacted by ever-increasing anthropogenic activities and human-induced climate change. Furthermore, it investigates how disruption and/or loss of these cross-ecosystem interactions may impact the success of neighboring ecosystems and consequently, the highly-valued ecosystem services to which these ecosystems give rise. The findings from this review highlight the degree of connectivity between mangroves, seagrasses and coral reefs, and emphasizes the need for a holistic, seascape-wide research approach to successfully protect and preserve these critically important ecosystems and their associated services for future generations.

Global changes are initiating a cascade of complex processes, which result, among other things, in global climate warming. Effects of global climate change are most pronounced in the Arctic, where the associate processes are progressing at a more rapid pace than in the rest of the world. Intensified transport of warmer water masses into the Arctic is causing shifts in species distributions and efforts to understand and track these change are currently intensified. However, Arctic marine fauna is the result of different recurring colonization events by Atlantic and Pacific Ocean populations, producing a very confounding evolutionary signal and making species identification by traditional morphological taxonomic analysis extremely challenging. In addition, many marine species are too small or too similar to identify reliably, even with profound taxonomic expertise. Nevertheless, the majority of current research focusing on artic marine communities still relies on the analysis of samples with traditional taxonomic methods, which tends to lack the necessary taxonomic, spatial and temporal resolution needed to understand the drastic ecosystem shifts underway. However, molecular methods are providing new opportunities to the field and their continuous development can accelerate and facilitate ecological research in the Arctic. Here, we discuss molecular methods currently available to study marine Arctic biodiversity, encouraging the DNA barcoding for improved descriptions, inventory and providing examples of DNA barcoding utilization in Arctic diversity research and investigations into ecosystem drivers.