SENSEI at 2017 Arctic Change meeting

It was a pleasure for SENSEI members George Divoky, Kyle Elliott and Christophe Barbraud to host a recent topical session at the 2017 Arctic Change meeting in Quebec, Canada. The weather was bitterly cold and snowy, and it felt like the perfect place for an Arctic meeting. 

One of the neat parts of Arctic Change is that it breaks down the 'silos', bringing together over 1000 Arctic scientists working across many different disciplines, so we had social scientists, health scientists and Inuit attending many of the talks. The topical session, held December 17 and 18, 2017, was entitled "Pagophilia in a world without ice: ecology of ice-associated wildlife in the 21st century" and included 11 speakers spread over two days, as well as several posters. Highlights included an interesting talk by Dr. Divoky showing the effects of ice loss on pagophilic Mandt's black guillemots, which have now lost their ice habitat, and a talk by Dr. Jeanniard du Dot on 'ice seals' and the effect of ice conditions on post-lactation movements. More than half the talks were by students, and it was great to hear their perspectives about the future of pagophilic wildlife, which will likely be living in an ice-free Arctic by the end of their careers. Indeed, the talks were clearly of great interest, especially to students, as their was standing room only for several of the talks.

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