One of the major challenges when modeling any system is the magnitude of the uncertainties present in the system. In oceanography, the uncertainties in biogeochemical models regarding the metazoan contribution are significantly large. Dr. Leocadio Blanco-Bercial’s research is focused on quantitatively investigating how diversity (in its many facets) is responsible for a portion of those uncertainties, and identifying how the nature of the open ocean environment shapes diversity from the surface to the deep ocean.
On Earth, life and climate are inextricably linked through a variety of interacting cycles and feedback loops. Because these cycles involve biological, geological and chemical processes, scientists refer to them as “biogeochemical cycles” – with the carbon cycle being of particular focus for many research studies.