Research Projects

The aim of this proposal is to use the exceptional fossil record of planktonic foraminifera to investigate when the present relationship between foraminifera biogeography - being representative of the plankton at large – and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) emerged, and how the principal driver/s of species distribution changed through geological time, with climate and evolutionary turnovers. This will allow to test the following hypotheses: Hypothesis 1: Cenozoic plankton spatial distribution, taxonomic and functional diversity have been driven by SST; Hypothesis 2: Present plankton biogeography emerged during the early Cenozoic as consequence of global cooling and the onset of the Antarctic glaciation. This study will establish how climate evolution since the beginning of Cenozoic cooling and Antarctic glaciation shaped the modern pelagic ecosystem, and therefore provide an evolutionary explanation for the relationship between biogeography and ocean surface temperatures in the modern ocean. This will allow to assess the likely resilience and plasticity to current and projected climatic and environmental changes.