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This article is an outcome of the EuroMarine Foresight Workshop on "Chemical ecology of marine interactions: the chemical language that shapes future marine health", hosted by the University of Essex. Financial support for this event was provided by EuroMarine.-- 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 panel ; "Infochemicals" (information‐conveying chemicals) dominate much of the underwater communication in biological systems. They influence the movement and behavior of organisms, the ecological interactions between and across populations, and the trophic structure of marine food webs. However, relative to their terrestrial equivalents, the wider ecological and economic importance of marine infochemicals remains understudied and a concerted, cross‐disciplinary effort is needed to reveal the full potential of marine chemical ecology. We highlight current challenges with specific examples and suggest how research on the chemical ecology of marine organisms could provide opportunities for implementing new management solutions for future "blue growth" (the sustainable use of ocean resources) and maintaining healthy marine ecosystems ; M Saha acknowledges funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) cluster of excellence "Future Ocean" for research grant CP1215, and the DFG under grant number SA 2571/2‐1. TW and GP acknowledge DFG for funding through CRC1127 ChemBioSys. EB received support from the CTM2014‐53818‐R (OstreoRisk) project funded by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), and by the project CoCliME an ERA4CS Network (ERA‐NET) initiated by JPI Climate, and funded by EPA (IE), ANR (FR), BMBF (DE), UEFISCDI (RO), RCN (NO), and FORMAS (SE), with co‐funding by the European Union (grant agreement number 690462) ; Peer Reviewed

ABSTTRACT Host-microbe interactions play crucial roles in marine ecosystems, but we still have very little understanding of the mechanisms that govern these relationships, the evolutionary processes that shape them, and their ecological consequences. The holobiont concept is a renewed paradigm in biology that can help to describe and understand these complex systems. It posits that a host and its associated microbiota, living together in a stable relationship, form the holobiont, and have to be studied together as a coherent biological and functional unit to understand its biology, ecology, and evolution. Here we discuss critical concepts and opportunities in marine holobiont research and identify key challenges in the field. We highlight the potential economic, sociological, and environmental impacts of the holobiont concept in marine biological, evolutionary, and environmental sciences with comparisons to terrestrial sciences where appropriate. Given the connectivity and the unexplored biodiversity specific to marine ecosystems, a deeper understanding of such complex systems requires further technological and conceptual advances, e.g. the development of controlled experimental model systems for holobionts from all major lineages and the modeling of (info)chemical-mediated interactions between organisms. The most significant challenge is to bridge cross-disciplinary research on tractable model systems in order to address key ecological and evolutionary questions. This will be crucial to decipher the roles of marine holobionts in biogeochemical cycles, but also developing concrete applications of the holobiont concept e.g. to increase yield or disease resistance in aquacultures or to protect and restore marine ecosystems through management projects. ; ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This paper is based on the results of a foresight workshop funded by the EuroMarine network, Sorbonne University, and the UMRs 8227 and 7144 of the Roscoff Biological Station. We are grateful to Catherine Boyen for useful advice and helpful ...