Schmidt Lab

The Schmidt lab is a recognised leader in studying the biotic reactions of marine calcifiers to past climate change.

We study the causes and effects of global warming and ocean acidification. We look at the modern era and geological time. We share our findings with stakeholders to help protect our oceans.

We examine records of ocean acidification for a range of organisms. These include coralline algae, benthic foraminifers, bryozoans, bivalves, scaphopods, gastropods, and marine plankton.

The group studies a variety of subjects to detangle the various effects that changes in climate have had on the marine realm. The research themes in the group are:

• carbonate and carbon cycle
• palaeoclimate events and evolutionary consequences
• marine conservation policy

We use tools from many fields, including geochemistry, material science, microscopy and climate modelling.

We apply a range of methods to study organisms threatened by climate change. We reconstruct internal structures, determine material properties, analyze their chemistry to quantify impacts of ocean acidification.

Research areas

Work in the group generally aligns with one of these themes:

• Climate change and marine ecosystems

  Linking the rate of climate change to the magnitude of impact on marine ecosystems
• Ocean acidification in a geological context

  Describing the unique nature of our ongoing ocean acidification in a geological context
• Calcification response to ocean acidification

  Developing methodologies to assess calcification response to past ocean acidification events
• Consequences of environmental change

  Link between environmental change and speciation and extinction and its cconsequences on biogeochemical cycles
• Shelf ecosystems and ocean acidification

  The future of shelf ecosystems in a warmer, more acidic ocean
• Informing policy makers

  Translating the findings of the community into information relevant to policy makers

Key projects

• PISTON

  Does developmental plasticity influence speciation? How does the background climate state affect speciation and optimum trait expression?
• PALEOGENiE

  In the ocean, the biogeochemical environment controls the pelagic ecosystem. Yet at the same time, the ecosystem assemblage influences the surface geochemical environment. It sets the strength of the biological pump and regulates the carbon and nutrient inventory of the ocean.
• Wolfson Merit

  The future of shelf ecosystems in a warmer, more acidic ocean
• Newton Fellowship (Sarkar)

  The impacts of rapid climate change on a key benthic habitat former during Late Palaeocene-Early Eocene