Ronny Steinberg
Report of GLOMAR PhD student Ronny Steinberg about his participation in the "56th European Marine Biology Symposium (EMBS56)" in Reykjavik, Iceland, from 4 to 8 September 2023
The European Marine Biology Symposium is an annual conference for all topics around marine biology and marine ecosystems. This year’s event take place in the Natura Hotel in Reykjavik, Iceland. The main theme was ‘Celebrating the 200th anniversary of AR Wallace’s birth: biodiversity distribution patterns along environmental gradients in marine ecosystems’. The conference began with an opening ceremony on Monday. The meeting always started with a keynote speaker in the morning followed by the oral presentations of participants. The symposium was divided in 9 themes from deep sea to coastal ecosystem with interesting presentations about the marine ecosystem from the deep sea to coastal waters.
For the conference I contributed one talk ‘Spread and consequences of a non-native Vaucheria species in the Wadden Sea (north-east Atlantic)’ on Monday morning to present my current work that I have been focused the last months of my PhD thesis. On Wednesday afternoon I presented my poster with the topic ‘Biomass increase and maturation of North Sea kelp forest despite ocean warming’ which focused on the work during my master’s thesis. Since I had one of the first talks, I was able to have many interesting conversations about the influence of invasive species on ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as the importance of systematically monitoring of new species and developing corresponding databases.
During the conference tour to Thingvellir national park and the conference dinner at the old theatre in Reykjavik I could connect with scientists in the fields of marine biology. I am so happy and proud to have the possibility to take part in this year’s EMBS56 and present my work. It was wonderful to exchange ideas with people from so many different areas. I met so many wonderful and loving people. It was a really great and intense time in Reykjavik. I am very grateful to GLOMAR for having me to attend the EMBS56 by providing financial support.
