U.S. MBON at CHOW 2020


MBON partners and team members will be moderating and presenting during concurrent breakout sessions of the first-ever biodiversity-themed virtual Capitol Hill Ocean Week 2020 conference, to be held June 9.

Presenters at a Glance

  • 10:00 am - 11:00 am: Defining Priorities for Meaningful Protection: Dr. Emmett Duffy, Director, Tennenbaum Marine Observatories Network, Smithsonian Institution
  • 11:15 am - 12:15 pm: Cooperating for Our Global Ocean: Dr. Neil Hammerschlag, Director, Shark Research & Conservation Program, University of Miami, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science
  • 11:15 am - 12:15 pm: Innovative Approaches for Restoration and Monitoring: Ms. Josie Quintrell, Executive Director, IOOS Association, Moderator. Dr. Frank Muller-Karger, Professor, University of South Florida
  • 11:15 am - 12:15 pm: Margaret Davidson Emerging Leaders: New Perspectives on Conserving Nature: Dr. Anni Djurhuus, Assistant Professor, University of the Faroe Islands
  • 2:45 pm - 3:45 pm Transformative Technologies: Dr. Francisco P. Chavez, Senior Scientist, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute; and Dr. Heidi M. Sosik, Senior Scientist, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
  • 2:45 pm - 3:45 pm: The Power of Protection: Dr. Ruth Perry, Marine Scientist and Regulatory Policy Specialist, Shell Upstream Americas

Visit https://marinesanctuary.org/capitol-hill-ocean-week/ to register and see the full day of activities, including plenaries and concurrent breakout sessions on how science and technology are advancing our understanding of the marine environment, the role of protected areas in conserving biodiversity, and how to engage people as stewards.

MBON Relevance to CHOW 2020

MBON is a growing global initiative composed of regional networks of scientists, resource managers, and end-users integrating historical and current biology and ecosystem surveys with new observations, and expanding application of remote sensing methods, novel molecular (eDNA) technologies, artificial intelligence and other innovative approaches with traditional environmental research tools and coordinated experiments to support our understanding of impacts from a changing environment on marine and human life.

MBON works to standardize methods and best practices to quantify relationships between climate, the ocean environment and marine food webs, from microbes to top predators, to provide predictive understanding of marine ecosystem responses to environmental change. We work in partnership with the Global Ocean Observing System GOOS, the Ocean Biodiversity Information System (OBIS), the Ocean Best Practices System, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO), and a broad suite of US and global partners to advance science, best practices, and coordinated monitoring in support of national and international biodiversity and ecosystem health assessments, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the  Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the International (UN) Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development 2021-2030 and other initiatives.