Big Data in Biology & Ecology

Whether understanding the effects of ocean temperatures on hurricane trajectories, or predicting sea-level rise, making sense of big data requires analytics that condense information so that they are interpretable. In this seminar I will focus on the tropical oceans, and present some of the big datasets we use to solve some contemporary problems of coral reefs. For example, a common question is: What is the relationship between water temperatures in the oceans and the distribution of marine species? In a contemporary context, that question becomes, as the oceans continue to warm, where are species likely to survive? It is often assumed that the oceans are homogenous, but similar to regional climates on the land, there are local and regional climates in the oceans. Indeed, the oceans are spatially and temporally patchy, and my work is trying to decipher biological and ecological patterns amongst this patchiness. Today I will discuss how I use big data sets to address where and why marine disease outbreaks occur, where corals are likely to survive ocean warming, and where coral reefs might keep up with sea-level rise.