Abstract
Major international programs and parallel technological developments have delivered a massive amount of information on the biogeochemistry, functioning and structure of marine food webs. The resulting data represents a key resource to explore patterns in t he functioning of the ocean ecosystem. This vast resource remains largely unexploited, as these data have been used on the local context and few attempts have yet been made to synthesize them to deliver a global perspective of the functioning of marine eco systems. This is partially due to a gap in the training of marine scientists in meta and comparative analyses because most European ocean sciences postgraduate courses do not include training on meta-analysis. This results in scientists lacking the require d training in statistical and modelling tools to conduct the analyses. This proposal recognizes this problem and proposes and early stage training programme dedicated to train young European scientists in advanced meta-analysis techniques applied to the marine ecosystem. We propose to combine the development of expertise on all relevant ecosystem functions, with emphasis on diversifying the approaches and analytical techniques. The training programme will be divided into three components: Ph.D. programme, A GORA and Toolbox: PhD subjects will include a particular suite of meta-analysis techniques. The suite of all technique analysis will conform the Tool Box available to all students. An internet-based forum, and a programme of seminars and exchanges will conform the METAOCEANS AGORA to facilitate the transfer of knowledge between Tool Box and the PhDs. We will offer 12 PhD subjects in the following topics: Ecosystem metabolism, Microbial food webs, Planktonic processes, Trophic links and Human Impacts. Examples of the meta-analysis techniques proposed could be: Allometric laws, mass balance approaches, steady state analysis, mechanistic models, network analysis, predictability tools, Bayesian models etc.
Europe