Oregon Sea Grant

Climate change is driving rapid changes in the abiotic conditions of coastal marine ecosystems, prompting extensive efforts to understand and predict its continued biological effects. Indeed, there already exist myriad studies applying the traditional approaches of ecological, physiological, and molecular research to the study of climate change. However, these studies largely document pattern or test mechanism at only a single level in the biological hierarchy. We contend that a broader view is needed to make progress; a view that provides insight into the interactions and feedbacks occurring across multiple levels. This is the view of systems biology: a powerful framework for understanding how the processes occurring at some biological levels lead to predictable emergent properties at others.This blog is dedicated to the broader view of systems biology.