Hofmann Presenting CCPO Seminar on Southern Ocean

Eileen Hofmann, a faculty member associated with Old Dominion University's Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography (CCPO), will discuss her research involving changes in the Southern Ocean food chain - ranging from plankton to whales - at a CCPO seminar on Monday, April 9.

"Southern Ocean Food Webs: Current Understanding and Challenges" is the topic of the seminar, which will begin at 3:30 p.m. in Room 3200 of the Innovation Research Park Building 1. The seminar and a reception with refreshments that begins at 3 p.m. are free and open to the public.

Hofmann, a professor of ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences at ODU, has research interests in the areas of physical-biological interactions in marine ecosystems, climate control of diseases of marine shellfish and mathematical modeling of marine ecosystems.

In the Southern Ocean around Antarctica, she is seeking to understand and project how marine ecosystems will respond to changing climate conditions and direct human impacts such as fisheries. This requires integrated ecosystem analyses at scales previously unexplored. At present, the region is experiencing rapid changes in ocean temperature and seasonal ice over, and showing significant changes at all trophic levels.