Overview

In the FSU Plankton Ecology and Biogeochemistry Lab we study the role of plankton in global carbon and nitrogen cycles. We take an interdisciplinary approach – we are both marine ecologists and biogeochemists, both field scientists and modelers. We work in oceans around the planet, including coastal waters off of Antarctica, open-ocean upwelling regions of the Pacific, the California Current Ecosystem, the Amazon River Plume, the Gulf of Mexico, the Indian Ocean, and the Southern Ocean. Our goal is to understand how a changing climate will impact the ability of marine biota to transport CO2 from the surface ocean-atmosphere system into the deep ocean where it can be sequestered for periods ranging from decades to millennia.  We also address the impact of anthropogenic change on zooplankton production and fisheries output.