Jean-Pierre Gattuso - Biography#

During my PhD and the early part of my career, I used underwater instrumentation to study the response of reef-building corals to environmental change and the biogeochemical cycling of carbon and carbonate in coral reefs. Among key results is the first field evidence that coral reefs are source of CO2 (1993) and the first experimental demonstration that coral calcification is affected by ocean acidification (1998). I have subsequently broadened my interest to microbial and planktonic processes and expanded study locations to temperate and polar regions. I have provided a major contribution to the field of ocean acidification since 1998, publishing the first experimental data on corals, molluscs of commercial interest and pteropods, several review articles, a book, and contributions as lead author to several products of IPCC AR5. I am a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate and recently led two reviews articles on the impacts of climate change on the ocean and on ocean solutions.

I also helped the international community get organized through the coordination of a large-scale European project, membership of numerous scientific steering committees, leadership of the SOLAS-IMBER Working Group on Ocean Acidification, and launch of the Ocean Acidification International Coordination Centre within the International Atomic Energy Agency. These activities have led to several awards: the Vernadsky medal of the European Geosciences Union (EGU) for my work on the carbonate cycle, the Blaise Pascal medal of the European Academy of Sciences for my leadership role in ocean acidification research, and the EGU Service Award for the launch of the Biogeosciences division and the founding of the highly successful open-access journal Biogeosciences.

Complete list of publications