ASGSB 1998 Annual Meeting Abstracts

[1]
MODELLING THE INFLUENCE OF LIFE ON THE DYNAMISM OF THE EARTH. P. Westbroek. College de France, 11, Place Marcelin Berthelot, 75005 Paris, France.

Life is a major geological force, and it is therefore impossible to understand the dynamism of the earth without considering the role of the biota in global models. However, a flagrant contrast exists between the limitations of sound modelisation and the dynamics of life in the real world. In the first place, models must be simple, while life is complex and diverse. And secondly, models can only operate over a limited range in time and space, while living systems characteristically operate over a wide range of temporal and spatial scales.

In this lecture, I shall briefly discuss how these problems may be solved: by creating a nested suite of hierarichal models, each concentrating on one particular level of organisation, and by concentrating the associated experimental research on model systems representing an important geological force. The examplary role of the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi as a model system for the study of global dynamics will be discussed in some detail. Emiliania produces elegant scales of calcium carbonate; it is the most important carbonate mineral producing species on earth. With its gigantic blooms it influences the global carbon cycle and the earth's climate.

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