Conference Chair: Daniel Vaulot,
CNRS UMR 7127, Station Biologique de Roscoff, BP 74, 29682 Roscoff FRANCE,
Telephone: +33 2 98 29 23 34 FAX: +33 2 98 29 23 24 Email: vaulot@sb-roscoff.fr

Conference Co-chair: William K. Li
Bedford Institute of Oceanography, PO Box 1006, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, B2Y 4A2
Telephone: 1-902-426-6349 FAX: 1-902-426-9388 Email: LiB@mar.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

Conference outline

This 2004 Gordon Research Conference (GRC) will be the first one of a new series dedicated to Marine Microbes. Microbes (i.e. virus, Bacteria, Archaea, Eukaryota; autotrophic and heterotrophic) lie at the heart of the functioning of all marine ecosystems, from the surface euphotic zone to deep hydrothermal vents. Marine microbes drive the natural biogeochemical cycles and, in turn, are affected by anthropogenic influences. Thus, these microbes are directly relevant to many societal concerns of the global environment: biodiversity, climate change, harvestable resources and others. The last two decades have seen an explosion of studies devoted to these organisms. The use of molecular tools has been critical in this respect. It is timely to initiate this series with a conference on picophytoplankton because this field appears to be poised at a turning point.

Picophytoplankton, discovered in the late 1970s, are unicellular photosynthetic organisms less than 2 to 3 microns in size. These marine microbes dominate biomass and production in large regions of the ocean, thus playing a key role in global elemental cycles such as that of carbon. Nearly 20 years after the NATO Advanced Study Institute on picoplankton organized by T. Platt and W.K.W. Li, the time has arrived for a new meeting to summarize the current state of knowledge. To date, a very large amount of data has been gathered on picophytoplankton. Information on ecological distributions and taxonomic diversity have come from novel approaches such as flow cytometry and molecular biology. More strikingly, the recent development of genomics of picoplankton species such as Prochlorococcus, Synechococcus and Ostreococcus provide new and fundamental insight. This meeting will first review recent advances in the taxonomy of picophytoplankton, especially the discovery of many novel eukaryotic groups both from culture and molecular-based field studies. In particular, we will cover extensively the new tools of molecular biology. Then, we will examine the physiology and ecology of picophytoplankton and revisit its role in the microbial food web. Finally we will dwell on the very exciting developments in picophytoplankton genomics and how the new knowledge will impact on our understanding of marine ecosystems.

Location and fees

The conference will be held at the Station Biologique de Roscoff. 

Accomodation will be at the Roscoff Conference Center (Hotel de France, Web site: http://www.sb-roscoff.fr/Accueil/), or in local hotels near the Station Biologique.

Fees including room, board and attendance to conferences (will be paid directly to GRC organisation)

• Single room, $765
• Double room, $695;
• Non-resident, $555.
• All of these fees may be discounted by $50 for early registration.

Travel information

• Location map of Roscoff in Brittany
• Flight and train schedules for June 6 and June 11 2004.

Arrival information (June 5 and 6)

• Arriving by car.  Park near the church or in the main Roscoff parking lot (see Map) and walk to your hotel
• Arriving at Roscoff railway station.  Walk directly to your hotel.
• Arriving at Brest airport.  We will askTaxis Goarnisson to pick each group arriving at the airport.  
  Please check whether your name is in the airport arrival list. If not then edit your arrival information in the participant table
  You will have to share the cost of the taxi with the other participants arriving on the same plane.
• Once in Roscoff, please check in in your hotel
• Registration will in the Hotel de France from 2 to 8 pm on Sunday June 6.  
  A welcome drink is planned starting around 5:30 pm followed by a buffet dinner at 6:30 pm.

How to get there

• Train. Roscoff has a train station which is about 10 min walking from the Station Biologique. Arriving from Paris (Gare Montparnasse) you have to change trains in Morlaix. Total travel time from Paris is about 5 hours. 
  • French railways web site: http://www.sncf.fr.  
  • There are direct Air France buses from Paris airports (Orly and CDG) to Gare Montparnasse.  See this link for infos.
• Airplane. The nearest airport is Brest-Bretagne (Guipavas) which is about 60 km from Roscoff (45 min drive).
  • Air France web site: http://www.airfrance.com
  • Taxi. Regular taxi costs about 70 euros from the Brest airport to Roscoff
    • Taxi Chapalain, Ph: 02 98 61 25 37
    • Taxis Arnaud Goarnisson - E-mail : taxigoarnisson@aol.com - Fixed Ph: 02.98.19.12.34 - Mobile phone: 06.72.78.20.08
• Ferry. Plymouth (UK) to Roscoff : http://www.brittany-ferries.fr/

Other useful websites for travel information:

Tourist Offfice from Roscoff: http://www.roscoff-tourisme.com/
Information about the city of Roscoff: http://membres.lycos.fr/mrrosko/
Pictures from Roscoff: http://membres.lycos.fr/roscofffotos/framesphotos2.htm
Information about Brittany: http://www.bretagne-online.tm.fr/
Cottages to rents (gîtes ruraux) : http://www.gites-finistere.com/english/index.html

Accomodation for the meeting

Applications

05/07/2004) : The conference is now full and places will only open if some participants cancel their attendance at the last minute.

Financial support

We have some limited financial support for conference fees and travel for Students and young Post-doctoral fellows.  
Please contact directly Daniel Vaulot (vaulot@sb-roscoff.fr) for details.

Program

You can donwload a more detailed schedule in Excel format

Instructions for participants

• Advice for Speakers
• Advice for Discussion leaders
• Advice for Poster presenters
• Common Complaints and Comments
• Business session during the Conference

Other web sites of interest

• Gordon Research Conferences : Main web site
• Gordon Research Conferences : Marine Microbes web site
• Roscoff Conference Center
• Station Biologique de Roscoff
• Roscoff Phytoplankton Group

Journal or Societies posting the Conference Annoucement

• American Society of Limnology and Oceanography
• Federation of European Microbiology Societies
• American Society of Microbiology
• Phycological Society of America
• Cyanosite
• Marine Ecology Progress Series (MEPS) and Aquatic Microbial Ecology (AME)
• Journal of Plankton Research (Oxford University Press)

Organisations and Institutions funding the meeting

GRC	Moore Foundation	CNRS	NSF	Région Bretagne	Département du Finistère