Bingzhang Chen

I am interested in what are the major factors controlling plankton biomass, community structure (trait distribution), and diversity in the sea and their roles in affecting earth system functions such as the primary production and biological carbon pump. The main approach I use is the numerical modeling and big data analysis.

The primary focus of my research is how biodiversity affects marine ecosystem functioning such as primary production and biological carbon pump, for which the primary producers particularly phytoplankton play the pivotal role. The main questions I ask are:

i) What are the main patterns of functional traits, diversity, biomass, and productivity of primary producers including phytoplankton and macroalgae in the ocean?

ii)  What are the main processes determining these patterns?

iii) What are the fundamental roles of diversity on ecosystem functioning?

Theoretical Ecology; Biological oceanography; Ecosystem modeling;  R, Fortran, Matlab.