The Symposium, that takes place at the Institute of Marine Sciences from 26 to 30 of May, is the 6th of a series that started in 1995 in Mobile, Alabama, and resumed with meetings in Groningen, Rimouski, Norwich and Goa. It is meant to provide an open and collaborative atmosphere across the interdisciplinary community that investigates the processes underlying the production and cycling of dimethylsulfide (DMS), dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and related compounds, and their relevance in physiology, ecology, global biogeochemistry and climate.
The Symposium, that takes place at the Institute of Marine Sciences from 26 to 30 of May, is the 6th of a series that started in 1995 in Mobile, Alabama, and resumed with meetings in Groningen, Rimouski, Norwich and Goa. It is meant to provide an open and collaborative atmosphere across the interdisciplinary community that investigates the processes underlying the production and cycling of dimethylsulfide (DMS), dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) and related compounds, and their relevance in physiology, ecology, global biogeochemistry and climate.
As Rafel Simó, scientist at the ICM and organizer of the Symposium, explains “Two major publications in the 80’s stimulated the research on DMS and related species. Shaw (1983) was the first to propose a link between ocean biota and Earth’s radiation budget through the emission of DMS. The CLAW hypothesis (Charlson et al. 1987) extended this concept by proposing a feedback between ocean temperature and DMS production. Since these publications, many marine biologists, chemists and physicists have worked together to try to understand the complex ecosystem pathways and the various controls that constrain the production and emission of DMS. Even though the major question of whether and how the feedback upon climate operates is still to be convincingly answered, these research efforts have resulted (and still are) in many important discoveries, many of which extend beyond the topic of DMS emission”.
The Symposium is meant to bring together recent results and ideas around these broad topics, including:
- Physiology and signaling roles of DMS(P) and related compounds in microbes, plants and metazoans (e.g., biosynthesis and catabolic pathways, genes, enzymes, regulation, physiological function and stress, chemotaxis, mutualisms)
- DMS(P) cycling processes and controlling factors, from lab to ecosystems (e.g., photolysis, ventilation, microbial production and consumption, process-oriented field studies, environmental regulation)
- Mapping and modeling DMS(P) and related compounds (e.g., distribution in under-sampled regions, high-resolution measurements, local to global ocean modeling)
- DMS emission, aerosols and climate (e.g., transfer coefficients and emission fluxes, atmospheric chemistry, aerosol production and composition, links to cloud microphysics, atmospheric & Earth System modeling, climate feedbacks, paleo records).
More information at the Symposium web page: http://www.dmspsymposium.com/