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Phytoplankton communities, from lakes to oceans, are changing with anthropogenic nutrient loading and climate change. So, too, are the tools by which phytoplankton are quantified and characterized, yielding a torrent of new data and new types of data that can be related to ecosystem
function. New insights have been gained about the physiology of resource acquisition by phytoplankton, allowing new relationships between phytoplankton biodiversity and function to be developed. Despite years of emphasis on the use of inorganic substrates in support of phytoplankton nutrition,
it is now well understood that phytoplankton rely on a broad suite of substrates, both dissolved and particulate. Simple characterizations of limiting nutrients are not sufficient to understand how phytoplankton biodiversity is changing, or may change, in future conditions. Ecological theory
is also advancing. Ecological stoichiometry brings the seemingly divergent concepts of nutrient limitation and trophic interactions together by recognizing that different organisms both within and between trophic groups have fundamentally different elemental requirements, that food web structure
is a function of not only food quantity but also food quality, and that these interactions result in a complex suite of feedbacks that shape community composition. Trait-based (functional response) approaches are increasingly applied in characterizing ecosystem function and response, and new
models are also emerging allowing new genomic data to be incorporated in models of ecosystem function. Climate change and altered nutrient loads should continue to motivate both new dynamic balance model architectures and new experimental investigations that support them. This article uses
the metaphor of ecological theater to convey contemporary trends and themes against the backdrop of a changing world. There is potential for the outcome of the aqueous play to be characterized as tragedy with more harmful taxa emerging, but with continued science advancements—and if
efforts to reduce nutrient pollution and control climate change become global priorities—there can be optimism in the face of tragedy.

This book highlights perspectives, insights, and data in the coupled fields of aquatic microbial ecology and biogeochemistry when viewed through the lens of collaborative duos - dual career couples. Their synergy and collaborative interactions have contributed substantially to our contemporary understanding of pattern, process and dynamics. This is thus a book by dual career couples about dual scientific processes. The papers herein represent wide-ranging topics, from the processes that structure microbial diversity to nitrogen and photosynthesis metabolism, to dynamics of changing ecosystems and processes and dynamics in individual ecosystems. In all, these papers take us from the Arctic to Africa, from the Arabian Sea to Australia, from small lakes in Maine and Yellowstone hot vents to the Sargasso Sea, and in the process provide analyses that make us think about the structure and function of all of these systems in the aquatic realm. This book is useful not only for the depth and breadth of knowledge conveyed in its chapters, but serves to guide dual career couples faced with the great challenges only they face. Great teams do make great science

Harmful algal blooms (HABs) - blooms that cause fish kills, contaminate seafood with toxins, or cause human or ecological health impacts and harm to local economies - are occurring more often, in more places and lasting longer than in past decades. This expansion is primarily the result of human activities, through increased nutrient inputs and various aspects of climate change. The Global Ecology and Oceanography of Harmful Algal Blooms (GEOHAB) programme promoted international collaboration to understand HAB population dynamics in various oceanographic regimes and to improve the prediction of HABs. This volume introduces readers to the overarching framework of the GEOHAB programme, factors contributing to the global expansion of harmful algal blooms, the complexities of HABs in different habitats, and the forward-looking issues to be tackled by the next generation of GEOHAB, GlobalHAB. The programme brought together an international team of contributing scientists and ecosystem managers, and its outcomes will greatly benefit the international research community