Species Interactions in Marine Communities: The Invisible Fabric of Nature

Understanding the interactions and feedback mechanisms among species in marine communities is essential to the conservation and management of natural resources in the sea. Such interactions can mediate the distribution, abundance, and diversity of species within communities and across habitats, landscapes, and ecosystems. From a practical perspective, ecosystem approaches to ocean management will need to account for those interactions that drive variation at the scale at which management operates and perhaps point to the scale at which management should strive to operate. The 8th William R and Lenore mote Symposium focused on the role that diverse types of species interactions-that invisible fabric of nature-play in marine ecosystems within which fisheries are embedded and facilitate the exchange of ideas about how to integrate such knowledge into realistic approaches to ocean management