During Michaelmas Term, OxTalks will be moving to a new platform (full details are available on the Staff Gateway).
For now, continue using the current page and event submission process (freeze period dates to be advised).
If you have any questions, please contact halo@digital.ox.ac.uk
Eukaryotic plankton are a core component of marine ecosystems with exceptional taxonomic and ecological diversity, yet how their ecology interacts with the environment to drive global distribution patterns is poorly understood. Guilhem will be talking about research he was involved in, which used Tara Oceans metabarcoding data, which cover all major ocean basins, combined with a probabilistic model of taxon co-occurrence to compare the biogeography of 70 major groups of eukaryotic plankton. The team highlighted notable differences in biogeographies across plankton groups and investigated their determinants at the global scale. They also uncovered two main axes of biogeographic variation. First, more diverse groups display clearer biogeographic patterns. Second, large-bodied consumers are structured by oceanic basins, mostly through the main current systems, whereas small-bodied phototrophs are structured by latitude and follow local environmental conditions.