Image: James Malley
The Ecosystems and Biodiversity discipline conducts research into the process understanding of Earth’s life support system. This entails terrestrial and oceanic ecosystems, their biogeochemical interactions with the lithosphere and atmosphere, and the role of human populations in altering these interactions (e.g. climate change, land-use change, pollution of ecosystems, acidification of the ocean) and in their response to change (e.g. natural hazards, ecosystem services and climate change economics). Research ranges from investigations of the smallest microbial unit to whole catchment ecosystems and region wide investigations across latitudes ranging from the tropics to the poles. Such studies inform, and are integrated within Earth system models and are applied to the possibility of life beyond this planet. Researchers in the discipline consider element cycles, water balances and energy budgets in response to perturbation whether caused by natural catastrophe or human impacts, and extends to the influence of changing climate on ecosystem services and the risks of communicable disease. Our studies may be placed within a modern, historical or geological context, using ancient records against which current change can be compared and future change predicted.
Contact Information
Discipline Head - Dr Vincent Gauci
Email: v.gauci@open.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0) 1908 658137
Fax:
Personal website of Discipline Head - Dr Vincent Gauci