Polar ocean biology: how we do it and why it matters - Professor Geraint Tarling (The British Antarctic Survey)

The polar oceans are in inhospitable, inaccessible and remote. They remain the least studied of all ocean regions. They also play a crucial role in how our planet operates. Data and samples from these regions are hard won by scientists who have toiled over many decades to obtain them. What has been revealed is an underwater world, teaming with life, containing species with adaptations found no-where else on Earth. The ecosystems they are part of have a global influence on both the productivity of all other ocean regions and the levels of CO 2 in our atmosphere. The polar regions are also experiencing some of the most rapid environmental changes on Earth and there are big questions on how quickly its biology can adapt. Professor Geraint Tarling will describe the latest research being carried out in ice-edge environments and consider the future fate of these globally important ecosystems.

Professor Geraint Tarling has been a biological oceanographer for over 25 years, and has carried out research at the National Oceanography Centre, the Scottish Association for Marine Science and the British Antarctic Survey, where he now heads the Ecosystems team.

Firth Court, University of Sheffield