Seasonal Temperatures and Acidification of sensitive Marine settings: Insight of an uNmatched macro-invertebrate Archive.

The seasonal pCO2 difference has globally increased, implying stronger stress for marine organisms sensitive to pH.

This mechanism is reinforced by an overall increase in the seasonal cycle of sea surface temperature (SST), but it would be striking to understand its extent and effect on ocean acidification. Unfortunately, no records exist to evaluate long-term SST-pH dynamics.

With this training-through-research project, the Experienced Researcher (ER) will gain the first record of seasonality, coupling SST and pH, for the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age demise, which is analogous to the current climate changes.

After calibrating a method to investigate the seasonality in the modern brachiopods’ shells, he will extract seasonal time series of SST and pH from key fossils.

Comparing the long term series of the deep past with the recent, the ER will foster the discussion and the understanding about the expected future changes for this chemico-physical system.

The employed method will provide a classic model to deal with high resolution paleoenvironmental data using the brachiopods archive, establishing a turning point for the next-generation of scientists, which aim to study deep-past climate variability with high resolution.

The University of Cambridge is an outstanding host where the researcher will be included in a high-level team of experts in geosciences.

Under the mentor of the supervisor, the ER will gain and transfer relevant knowledge related to population structure and growth of shelled invertebrates, shell morphology, geochemistry and statistics.

He will disseminate and communicate the results of his research and he will perform outreach activities to increase the attention of the society about problems concerning climate changes.

At the host, he will be involved in training activities aimed to develop transversal and transferrable skills, to complete his formation as scientist, being thus ready for the next stage of his career.