Hi all, The 25th anniversary of PICES is in San Diego, CA from Nov. 1 - 14. There are two relevant sessions entitled "Factors that make or break trophic linkages" with ecologists, oceanographers, and social scientists and "Understanding our Changing Oceans through Species Distributions and Habitat Models based on Remotely Sensed Data." You can submit an abstract here if interested, and the due date is July 1st - http://meetings.pices.int/meetings/annual/2016/pices/submissions<https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__meetings.pices.int_meetings_annual_2016_pices_submissions&d=CwMFAg&c=imBPVzF25OnBgGmVOlcsiEgHoG1i6YHLR0Sj_gZ4adc&r=syifwYvH57YwYFfg_wZY1UiRmOLyWOv2c6tU4IcaVEI&m=M4wh4WcKlhZDOuK_n2HoJQLFhGWkuC6vp9a3JcIPYI8&s=hKOgX8dKlpzeinJDDdqNMpCtr1DL7jpE-RxAMxEpTJA&e=> The session descriptions are below: Mechanistic linkages from physics to phytoplankton to zooplankton to fish remain central to understanding climate forcing on marine ecosystems. Thus, it will be useful to understand how ecosystem linkages and species distribution are influenced by ocean features and how these linkages translate through the food web. Specifically, what information can be gained from moving beyond a single linkage (e.g. phytoplankton to zooplankton) towards a comparison across trophic levels in three very different North Pacific ecosystems. Examples of such factors may include but are not limited to broad scale anomalies (e.g. the blob, ENSO events, Kuroshio / Oyashio dynamics), temporal mismatches among physical processes, prey, and predators (match / mismatch hypothesis), and population fluctuations (e.g. lipid poor vs. lipid rich zooplankton). We have suggested (but are not limited to) three study areas, the California Current, the Kuroshio Current, and the Bering Sea to examine linkages from physics to phytoplankton, phytoplankton to zooplankton, zooplankton to fish, birds and mammals, and fish to birds and mammals. By looking at multiple ecosystems and trends and anomalies across multiple trophic linkages, we can better understand how climate variability and anthropogenic forcing may cascade through these marine ecosystems. We propose a topic session that will involve participation from multiple PICES committees and will focus on physical forcing and trophic linkages from physics to top predators. Specifically, we request presentations on topics that (a) examine how changes in physical oceanography lead to long term trends or anomalous responses in primary production, zooplankton, fish, and top predators, (b) examine how trophic relationships may respond to physical forcing and changes in species abundance and spatial distribution, and (c) test for threshold responses (non-linearity) across trophic levels to changes in physical oceanography and the population dynamics of other species (competitors, prey, and predators). Determining marine animal distributions directly through at-sea observations or tracking is costly and logistically challenging. Moreover, even with limitless time and resources, information is limited because many species disperse over long distances including trans-hemispheric migrants. Species Distribution Models (SDMs) provide a tool to estimate present distributions and to project into the future (assuming species-environment relationships remain strong), but these models require substantial environmental data to accurately predict distribution and change. Increasingly, SDM approaches rely on remotely-sensed satellite data as indices of environmental conditions, particularly as proxies for primary and possibly secondary productivity. Satellite datasets are inexpensive to use, widely served, well-documented (i.e., scientifically defensible), and globally synoptic, allowing for easy spatio-temporal comparisons. However, satellite-borne sensors measure characteristics of the ocean at the surface while marine organisms respond to spatial and temporal features of the ocean at depth, which may require more complex approaches. In this session, we will investigate the opportunities and challenges of using satellite-based habitat models and ways we can advance SDMs for a better understanding our changing oceans and for improving management. In particular, we solicit papers exploring the benefits and tradeoffs of using satellite-borne data to detect mechanisms of distributional and range shifts. This session will provide the PICES community and the FUTURE program with a better sense of the quality of fisheries, seabird, and marine mammal SDM under development in relation to climate change in the North Pacific. Sincerely, Elliott Hazen, PhD