Workshop on taxonomy of deep-sea copepods

Workshop on taxonomy of deep-sea copepods

P. Martínez Arbizu (Senckenberg Institute, Germany) & H.K. Schminke (University of Oldenburg, Germany)

A CeDAMar workshop and training course on taxonomy of deep-sea copepods will be held in Wilhelmshaven, Germany on November 21-29 2005. Application is open now!

Rationale
Copepods are the second most abundant metazoan taxon in deep-sea sediments. Although density of copepods is generally low in abyssal depths, their diversity is astonishing. A typical multicorer sample can yield 30-50 species, practically all of them being new to science. Copepods play an important role in the characterization of abyssal communities as they are sensitive to changes in food availability, disturbance and sediment type. The benthic copepod community is dominated by harpacticoid copepods, while hyperbenthic species usually belong to the Cyclopoida and Calanoida.

Several nations are currently involved in deep-sea studies concerning evaluation of disturbances caused by possible deep-sea mining activities, by impacts of deep-sea effluents or waste dumping, or by the study of latitudinal diversity gradients. Such studies normally consider meiofauna at high a taxonomic level only like nematodes, copepods etc. A more detailed study is possible when lower taxonomic units like genus or even species are considered.

The current workshop will consist of 2 modules. The first module is a 6 days training course in the identification of deep-sea copepods. This module is intended for students and scientists involved or interested in the study of deep-sea meiofauna samples, or wanting to acquire basic knowledge for species-level identification of major deep-sea copepod groups. The second module will consist in discussions on how to deal with the great number of undescribed species in the deep sea, to develop strategies and tools for the intercalibration and quality assurance of identifications of deep-sea copepods, on how to deal with "working species", and on how to better cooperate and interconnect while running deep-sea programs.

Dates: 21-30 November 2005

Venue: The workshop will be held at the German Centre for Marine Biodiversity Research DZMB-Senckenberg in the city of Wilhelmshaven, Germany. Accommodation in double-room can be made available at the institute at a rate of 10 Euro per person/night. The nearest international airport is Bremen Airport.

Number of participants: 10-15 persons

The workshop is supported by a grant of the Alfred Sloan Foundation to CeDAMar. Travel support can be made available on request.

Application: Written application including short cv, personal interests, and requested funding support should be sent by email to dzmb@senckenberg.de. Deadline for application: October 1st, 2005.

The workshop is an activity of the Census of Abyssal Marine Life program âEURoeCeDAMarâEUR� supported by the Census of Marine Life âEURoeCoMLâEUR� and the Alfred Sloan Foundation.

www.cedamar.org

www.coml.org

Preliminary Program

    Date
    Topic

     21 November
    Introduction to workshop. Methods of deep-sea meiofauna research. Copepod morphology. Sorting and dissecting methods.

     22 November
    Harpacticoid copepods. Introduction to abyssal families. Tips and tricks for the identification on family-level.

     23. November
    Harpacticoid copepods. Identification to family- and genus-level (cont.)

     24. November
    Harpacticoid copepods. Identification to species-level

     25. November
    Cyclopoid copepods

     26. November
    Misophrioida and Calanoida

     27. November
    Discussions and strategies 1

     28. November
    Discussions and strategies 2

     29. November
    Discussions and strategies 3