Robert Tomasetti

My research in biodiversity of marine seaweeds is focused on creating a baseline of known species diversity in benthic marine communities worldwide. My research has shown that only 5% of algal genera are responsible for 50% of global species diversity, and that this subset of highly diverse and widespread genera has higher tropical diversity and taxa capable of causing algal blooms and phase shifts on coral reefs. I am interested in determining how population ecology will change with increasing sea surface temperature and nutrients, and how community shifts can affect ecosystem-level changes.