Bioturbation normally refers to the advective transport of particulate and dissolved material associated with macrofaunal activities in surface sediments. Such movement may influence not only the input of reactants and geometric configuration in the bioturbated zone, but also the qualitative and quantitative controls of element cycles in marine environments.

Abstracts submitted to the conference as oral or poster presentations should focus on feed-back mechanisms between ecological properties of the macrofaunal community (e.g. functional diversity, abundance, species-species interactions, size, packing and succession) and biogeochemical fate of organic/inorganic material in surface marine sediments.
Important aspects include temporal and spatial dynamics of boundary conditions (e.g. light, temperature, supply of organic material, and oxygen conditions in the bottom water), and the scale (microscale to ecosystem level) and environment (permeable/unpermeable) where the controlling mechanisms operate.
Scientific programme
The different talks and posters presented during the conference are divided into three thematic sessions (see below). Also, three plenary lectures addressing state-of-the-art and future developments of specific aspects on bioturbation are included.
Plenary talk I: Quantitative and qualitative models for bioturbation: past, present and future perspectives (Bernard P. Boudreau)
Plenary talk II: Laboratory and in-situ instrumentation and detection system for bioturbation: past, present and future perspectives (Martin Solan)
Plenary talk III: Bioturbation and element cycling in surface deposits: past, present and future perspectives (Robert C. Aller)
Session A: Bioirrigation and solute transport
a) The ecological basis of processes and patterns of irrigation associated with macrofaunal functional diversity and construction of species-specific biogenic structures (burrow/tube/galleries).
b) Approach and advances in techniques to measure distributions and solute fluxes from/to and within biogenic void structures.
c) Construction and use of quantitative and qualitative models to describe and predict 1- and 2-dimensional solute distributions.
d) Coupling of irrigation patterns to temporal and spatial cycles in environmental boundary conditions such as e.g. physical disturbance, light, temperature, supply of organic material, and oxygen conditions in the bottom water.

Session B: Movement of particles in the bioturbated zone

a) The ecological basis of particle transport in terms of species-specific behavior and adaptation, functional biodiversity, and community dynamics.
b) Approach and advances in measuring particle motion and reactive substrate distributions.
c) Construction and use of quantitative and qualitative models to describe and predict vertical and horizontal particle transportation.
d) Coupling of particle movement to temporal and spatial cycles in environmental boundary conditions such as e.g. physical disturbance, light, temperature, supply of organic material, and oxygen conditions in the bottom water.
Session C: Bioturbation and elemental cycling
a) Links and feedback mechanisms between benthic ecological properties (e.g. functional diversity, abundance, species-species interactions, size, packing and succession), and succession/zonation of biogeochemical reactions.
b) Modification of sediment chemistry, diagenetic reactivity, reaction zonation/distribution and coupling, and microbial community structure/functioning during particle manipulation and gut transit, and their implications/consequences for elemental cycling.
c) Diagenetic reactivity, reaction zonation/distribution and coupling as a function of biogenic transport processes.
d) Consequences for the sedimentary record (preservation vs mineralization) of organic C, N, P, S and authigenic mineral suites (S, P, Fe), and anthropogenic compounds.
Conference committee:
Robert C. Aller (MSRC, Stony Brook University , USA)
Gaston Desrosiers (ISMER, Université du Québec à Rimouski, Canada)
Franck Gilbert (LMGEM, Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, France)
Stefan Hulth (Department of Chemistry, Göteborg University, Sweden)
Jean-Christophe Poggiale (LMGEM, Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, France)
Georges Stora (LMGEM, Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, France)
Also are involved in the conference organization:
Isabelle Gilbert (Contractual secretary)
Maurice Libes (Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, France)
Dominique Poirot-Chevanne (LMGEM, Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, France)
Katherine Walch (Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, France)