The Ever Changing Ecosystems of Planet Earth and their Battle with Climate Change

Marine food webs are complex and fascinating systems. Not only do they underpin the food we consume, but they also shape the entire ocean’s ecosystems, through the movement of essential elements, such as carbon as well as the production of the oxygen we breathe. What is the link between the sunlight and the fish we and other marine mammals consume? Everything begins on a much smaller scale. In this talk, I will take you on a journey through a microbial battlefield, where friends can become foe, plants can be animals, waste is a food source, and a place where no organism is safe.

A major challenge this century is to understand and predict how life on earth will respond to global climate and land use changes. My research combines genetic, ecological, geographical and modelling tools to identify wildlife populations under threat based on exposure to future changes, sensitivity to change, movement potential and adaptations. I focus on bats as indicators of the state of the wider environment. I will demonstrate how this approach can be used to guide conservation efforts under global change.

Single celled microbes, called phytoplankton, are responsible for around half the photosynthesis on Earth. Adding shades of green to our blue ocean, they provide energy for the rest of the marine ecosystem, influence atmospheric CO2 and climate and, over geological time, have changed the surface of the planet. Join in a brief research journey out into the oceans and through Earth’s history, from more than 3 billion years ago on into the near future, researching how the availability of key nutrients has been influenced by and continues to influence these fascinating and important organisms.