International Workshop on Food Web Dynamics and Climate Change in Global Upwelling Systems (Dec 8-12, 2025, South Africa)

From December 8–12, 2025, the Valdovinos Lab, in collaboration with Cang Hui at the National Institute for Theoretical and Computational Sciences (NITheCS) at Stellenbosch University, organized and hosted this intensive one-week collaborative event. It convened leading minds in network ecology, oceanography, thermal physiology, and genomics to tackle a pressing ecological imperative: predicting and managing marine ecosystem responses to a rapidly warming climate.

The Geographical and Biological Context

The workshop targeted the world’s four major Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems: California, Chile, South Africa, and Portugal. The biological significance of these geographical zones cannot be overstated. While they cover less than 1% of the ocean’s surface, they fuel 25% of global marine productivity. These remarkably productive yet vulnerable rocky intertidal and pelagic ecosystems are critical linchpins for both global food security and marine biodiversity.

Workshop Highlights: From Physiology to Ecosystem Dynamics

Rather than viewing ecological responses in isolation, the workshop aimed to develop cutting-edge network models that bridge multiple biological scales—from organismal ecophysiology to macro-level ecosystem dynamics.

Key themes and breakthroughs from the week included:

• Integrating Environmental and Physiological Drivers: Early sessions focused on the intersection of oceanography, thermal ecology, and genomics. Researchers examined how shifting environmental baselines in the four upwelling regions influence population-level responses, specifically parsing out the nuances between phenotypic plasticity, evolutionary adaptation, and geographical range shifts.

• Advancing Trophic Network Models: A central objective was the active construction and comparative analysis of food webs across the four regions. Participants worked to integrate oceanic dispersal, thermal ecology, and non-trophic interactions into Allometric Trophic Network (ATN) models.

• Resolving Primary Productivity: A critical methodological discussion addressed a common limitation in food web modeling: the reduction of primary producers to simple logistic growth equations. Researchers proposed and evaluated new frameworks to better capture nutrient intake and the true mechanics of energy flow from macroalgae and other basal resources into the broader trophic network.

• Eco-Evolutionary Integration: Later sessions transitioned into specialized working groups. Teams explored the integration of phylogenies and eco-evolutionary dynamics with ATN models to evaluate how biological adaptation influences overall community stability and resilience against species invasions.

Looking Forward

The international composition of the workshop provided an unprecedented opportunity for cross-regional comparative analyses. By the week's end, researchers established clear directives for future funding, joint publications, and the continued development of the Portuguese and cross-regional ATN models.

By successfully connecting local-scale biological processes—such as thermal tolerance and microbial cross-feeding—to global-scale climate impacts, this collaborative effort is laying the groundwork for highly integrated, predictive frameworks. Ultimately, these models will be vital for informing nuanced conservation and adaptive management strategies across the globe's most vital marine upwelling systems.