Dates: 6 & 7 March 2025
Location: Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Droevendaalsesteeg 10, 6708 PB Wageningen, The Netherlands and online
Coordinators: Alena Gsell (CML, Leiden) & Dedmer Van de Waal (NIOO, Wageningen)
With this training school, we aim to harmonize and consolidate the state of the art of our knowledge on the ecological processes underpinning the diversity and spread of zoosporic parasites in aquatic primary producers. While many case studies are based on chytrid infections of phytoplankton, the same ecological theory probably holds true for other taxonomic groups of zoosporic parasites. Grounding the understanding of when, where and how strongly zoosporic infections impact host populations in ecological principles not only improves our theoretical knowledge but also offers insights that may be applicable to the prediction and mitigation of zoosporic infections in natural and man-made communities of aquatic primary producers.
This training school is structured in three themes that will tie together ecological concepts, technical advances and insights from culture systems across scales. The themes are: 1) Eco-physiology, 2) Food Web Interactions, and 3) (Eco) System Functioning. Each theme will be championed by (invited) experts working in the field, including Silke Van den Wyngaert (University of Turku, Finland), Serena Rasconi (INRAE Thonon, France), Michael Cunliffe (University of Plymouth, UK), Kevin Lafferty (USGS, USA), and Thijs Frenken (HAS Green Academy, NL). In addition, we will offer a skills workshop on sharing science through the lens of storytelling. To round off the training school, we will tour the experimental facilities of the NIOO-KNAW and assign ample time to socialize during breaks, a social dinner and through a serious game.
Participant Application
The training school will be held hybrid at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology for a limited number of participants. Lectures will be available online. To apply for participation, please use the online form: https://forms.gle/ro1cizQdVLnaViR98. Application deadline is 30 January 2025. To prepare the training school optimally, we will ask you for a motivation for attending the training school. Places on site are limited, therefore the organizing committee will select in-person participants with view towards a well-balanced and diverse group and outcomes will be communicated latest by 31 January 2025.
