Resilience of calcareous plankton to rising pCO2 and temperatures: exploring the Mid-Pliocene icehouse-greenhouse transition (M2 to KM5c) as an analogue for future climate



Project type: Charles University Student Mini-grant 2023 


Project leader at CU: Jaime Yesid Suarez Ibarra (Faculty of Science)  


Participating universities: Heidelberg University, University of Milan, Charles University 


The project aims to study the response of calcareous nannoplankton to the ongoing and accelerating effects of anthropogenic CO2 emissions by assessing the carbon fluxes of both groups based on the fossil record. The aim is to establish a new research collaboration network, gathering experts in paleoclimatology, Ph.D. students, facilities, and laboratories and aiming to study past climate changes and the reactions of the calcareous plankton (important carbon sequester) and aid to comprehend how this group will react to the anthropogenic climatic crisis we are facing nowadays, which fits perfectly with the Flagship #4: Environmental Transitions.