27 September 2018
This course will focus on recognizing the benthic community and understanding how climate change affects its structure. The benthic community includes organisms (both flora and fauna) that can be found either attached to sediment environments or slightly moving around the bottom of the ocean. We must understand how food webs work, and how food sources can be modifying due to climate change, and what their effects are on the ocean ecosystem.
Topics include: Benthic organisms and their significance to the ecosystem, Food webs and how we study them, Benthic communities and sites affected by climate change.
Biologist Dr. Francyne Elias-Piera and educator Dr. Ailim Schwambach will be teaming up to present a Master Class for educators, scientists, science communicators and the general public.
For educators: This class will provide a deeper understanding of ways scientists and educators can work together to reach learners of all ages and levels of scientific experience.
For researchers: Dr. Elias-Piera will discuss techniques for using simple photographs and graphics to enhance science communication presentations.
Francyne Elias-Piera is a biologist with a Master (Universidade de São Paulo – Brazil) and a PhD (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona – Spain) in Biological Oceanography/ Environmental Science. She has worked with biodiversity, distribution and trophic ecology of Antarctic benthic communities since 2000. Read More
Currently, she is a postdoctoral researcher at Korea Polar Research Institute (KOPRI), leading the Benthic Food Web research line in the project CHAMP 2050. She has been involved with Education and Outreach since 2010, as Council of APECS-Brazil, vice-secretary of APECS-Spain (2012-2014), Co-chair of Education and Outreach committee of APECS-International (2013-2015), and she is a collaborating researcher at Education projects from Universidade Federal do ABC – Brazil, mainly working in the “Antártica ou Antártida?” program.
Dr. Ailim Schwambach developed her PhD research (Science Education: Chemistry of Life and Health; Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul) and did her sandwich PhD and UCL, in England. Currently she works as a high school teacher at Instituto Ivoti and also works as a mentor of several environmental education projects for teachers. Read More
Ailim is a Counselor of APECS- Brazil (Association of Polar Early Career Scientists). Ailim created a project to make young people read more and improve their skills and abilities. RBS Prize Winner Education (2° Prêmio RBS de Educação). She was a Brazilian Delegate at COP 21 from UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) - Conference of Parties in France, Paris.
