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About François Ribalet

I am a biological oceanographer at the University of Washington, Seattle. My research group studies phytoplankton, microscopic organisms that fuel ocean food webs and regulate Earth’s carbon cycling. We use SeaFlow, our custom-built flow cytometer, to track these cells in real time during research cruises, collecting high-resolution data across the global ocean. By combining these measurements with statistical models, we study how environmental change influence phytoplankton growth and community dynamics, and how these tiny organisms help regulate the health of marine ecosystems and the planet’s climate.

When the Ocean Gets Too Hot for Earth's Most Abundant Photosynthetic Organism

Using a decade of field measurements across the Pacific Ocean, we discovered that Prochlorococcus, Earth's most abundant photosynthetic organism, faces sharp declines in growth above 28°C, a temperature threshold that tropical oceans may exceed by century's end.

François Ribalet

Sep 08, 2025

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Details

Website

www.ribaletlab.org
Email

ribalet@uw.edu

Online Elsewhere

ORCID

0000-0002-7431-0234

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François Ribalet (He/Him)