Diatom silica production under future ocean conditions, genes to biomes

Project Member(s): Petrou, K.

Funding or Partner Organisation: Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Projects)
Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Projects)

Start year: 2021

Summary: This project aims to reveal how climate change will influence the cycling and transfer of carbon and silicon in the ocean by quantifying changes in diatom community composition and silica production with concurrent warming and acidification. This project expects to deliver new knowledge on diatom silicate production and marine carbon and silicon cycling in a future ocean using the interdisciplinary approaches of physiology, molecular biology and quantitative modelling. Expected outcomes include improved estimates on marine productivity and a redefined understanding of threats to marine life from ocean acidification. This should provide significant benefits such as improved valuations on the sustainability of ocean ecosystems.

FOR Codes: Ecosystem Adaptation to Climate Change, Marine Oceanic Processes (excl. climate related), Expanding Knowledge in the Environmental Sciences, Ecological Physiology, Ecological Impacts of Climate Change, Biological Oceanography, Climate change impacts and adaptation, Ecology, Oceanography, Oceanic processes (excl. in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean)

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.