WEES Seminar Januari: Dr. Lorenzo Bramanti

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Dear all,

We would like to invite you to attend January’s Wageningen Evolution & Ecology Seminar (WEES) and related workshop. The seminar will take place on Thursday 16th January, 16:00-17:00 in Orion C2005-2006Dr. Lorenzo Bramanti from the Observatoire Ocanologique Banyuls sur Mer (France) will present his work on animal forests in a seminar titled ‘Marine Animal Forests: Scientific Marketing or Real Ecology?'. After the seminar, everyone is invited to join for free drinks at The Spot, where it will be possible to interact more directly and informally with Dr. Bramanti.

There will also be a workshop with Dr. Lorenzo Bramanti on ‘Scientific Diving in the Mesophotic Zone' at 14:00 in Zodiac E1244. In the workshop, Dr. Bramanti will discuss the techniques and technologies required for divers to work in a mesophotic environment. The workshop is aimed for HBO, MSc, PhD students, and postdocs. Registration is required, so please email Davide Bottacini (davide.bottacini@wur.nl) to register. See below for more information on the seminar and workshop. 

Seminar (16:00-17:00 - Orion C2005-2006)

Marine Animal Forests: Scientific Marketing or Real Ecology?

Dr. Lorenzo Bramanti
Researcher, CNRS-LECOB Observatoire Ocanologique Banyuls sur Mer
Banyuls sur Mer, France

The concept of 'marine animal forest' is now frequently used in the scientific literature and is generally associated with marine benthic organisms with three-dimensional structures. Most of the time, the term is used as a synonym for 'ecosystem engineer' and is applied in a rather broad sense. Although many scientific studies have adopted this term as a primary focus of interest, it is still largely used for awareness and communication purposes, lacking almost entirely in quantification and standardization. In this seminar, Dr. Bramanti aims to show how, in the framework of his research, he is using a scientific approach to define and standardize the term 'marine animal forest'. He will discuss what is meant by this concept and demonstrate the experimental and theoretical approaches that he is employing to define, quantify and standardize it so that it can be applied to conservation management and restoration practices. He will present the results of various expeditions and conclude by illustrating how he applies this approach to mesophotic ecosystems, providing examples of ongoing research.

 

Workshop (14:00-15:00 - Zodiac E1244)

Scientific Diving in the Mesophotic Zone

The workshop gives attendees the opportunity to meet the speaker and have an interactive discussion on their career, study systems, methodologies and recent publications. The workshops are a great opportunity to become acquainted with hot topics in science and to gain experience in discussing these topics with leading scientists in the field. Furthermore, BSc and MSc students can get 1 ECTS for attending 2 workshops. Registration is required to participate in the workshop, so please email Davide Bottacini (davide.bottacini@wur.nl) to register. 
 

Lunch and dinner with Dr. Bramanti

A small group will have lunch and dinner with our invited speaker (cost on the participants). If you are interested in joining for lunch and/or dinner with Dr. Bramanti, please contact Davide Bottacini (davide.bottacini@wur.nl). You may of course also simply decide to join for dinner on the day of the seminar.

WEES background & call for new members
WEES is an initiative of PhD students and postdocs at Wageningen University to organize a continuing series of stimulating seminars on contemporary topics in evolution and ecology. For this series we invite researchers from all over the world who have leading roles in their field. We aim to bring together different groups at Wageningen University using a variety of systems, but with a common interest in evolutionary and ecological questions. WEES is funded by graduate schools PE&RC, WIMEK, EPS and WIAS.

Interested in joining the WEES committee and organizing seminars yourself? WEES is looking for new members! We aim for a broad and diverse range in topics and would like to welcome new members to help and include topics not represented yet. If you are curious, send an email to weeswageningen@gmail.com and join one of our meetings.
For more information please visit: www.weeswageningen.nl or follow us on Twitter @weeswageninge