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Summary: The topical lunch group met on April 5 to discuss feasibility and brainstorming for the
preparation of a RCN-SEES proposal. The notional title is Sustainable Oceans in a Changing
Ocean: forecasting increased disease impact and consequences for human well-being
Diseases of marine organisms are forecast to increase significantly with climate change drivers
of warming and increased ocean acidification. Despite this increased risk, diagnostic tools,
forecasting tools and the capability to model marine diseases lags far behind most terrestrial
ecosystems. Large scale capacity building is needed in the form of training and increased
communication within the community of marine disease researchers to be able to meet this
challenge in ocean ecosystem sustainability. In addition, critical tools such as facilities to study
ocean acidification and conduct experiments are not in centralized locations. This RCN will
increase training for students and postdocs at the same time as forming a more cohesive,
collaborative research network. Training opportunities will include hybrid workshops/meetings
on diagnostics, remote sensing and modeling at Friday Harbor Labs, Coconut Island Hawaii and
Cornell University. Through an initial series of annual meetings, workshops, and mediated
discussions, the RCN will evaluate infrastructural needs, prioritize a research agenda, and
energize new collaborations to expand the effectiveness of the emerging community of
researchers. This is a SEES relevant, highly interdisciplinary project that seeks solutions to
managing our oceans for sustainability under the pressure of climate change and other
anthropogenic threats. The computationally intensive portion will include forecasting disease
risk with future climate scenarios. This project will also include a dimension of human change
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