Abstract:
Oceanic fronts are often described as hotspots of biological activity, dynamic regions where fine ocean currents fuel life. But are they truly favorable to all marine plankton? In this talk, I revisit this seemingly simple question and show that the answer is more nuanced. Rather than uniformly boosting life, fronts act as selective environments that reshape plankton communities, creating clear “winners” and “losers”, reorganizing marine ecosystems. Understanding these fine-scale processes is essential if we are to capture how marine ecosystems function and respond to climate change.

Biography:
Marina Lévy is the director of the Sorbonne University Alliance Ocean Institute. She received her PhD in Oceanography from Sorbonne University in 1996 and is an active research scientist working at the LOCEAN-IPSL Ocean and Climate Laboratory in Paris, France. Her work focusses on the interactions between turbulent ocean currents and marine biology, with the ultimate goal of improving model projections of ocean stressors in response to climate change. She is deeply engaged in public awareness and corporate outreach on ocean-related challenges.

The speaker will also be giving a symposium talk; see https://calendar.hkust.edu.hk/events/ocean-science-societal-action-story-behind-starfish-barometer.