Dr Bingzhang Chen

Senior Lecturer

Mathematics and Statistics

Contact

Personal statement

I was trained as a field oceanographer and obtained my PhD in Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, focusing on field experiments of microzooplankton grazing and flow cytometry. Then I worked as a postdoctoral researcher working with Dr. Andrew Irwin and Zoe Finkel at Mount Alison University, Canada. 

 

Thereafter, I worked at Xiamen University, China, and was deeply involved in a China National Basic Research Program (“973” Program) entitled “Carbon cycling in China Seas-budget, controls and ocean acidification (CHOICE-C project)”. In 2012, I was awarded the New Century Excellent Talent by the Ministry of Education of China. In 2015, I was awarded the David Cushing prize offered by the Journal of Plankton Research. 

From 2015 to 2018, I worked at Japan Agency of Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) on a CREST project entitled "Developing a new marine ecosystem model to represent the adaptive capacity of plankton in the N. Pacific" (PI: S. Lan Smith) funded by Japan Science and Technology Agency.

Since 2018, I have been working as a Chancellor's Fellow at the University of Strathclyde until 2022 when I was promoted to a Senior Lecturer. Currently, I am supervising five PhD students. 

 

I am honoured to serve as an associate editor for the journal of Limnology and Oceanography, which is the flagship journal of Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO).

 

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Area of Expertise

Theoretical Ecology; Biological oceanography; Ecosystem modeling;  R, Fortran, Matlab.

Prize And Awards

2015 David Cushing Prize
Recipient
1/1/2016

More prizes and awards

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Publications

Contrasting diversity patterns between microeukaryotic and prokaryotic communities in the cold-seep sediments
Xu Zhimeng, Chen Jiawei, Liang Wenzhao, Chen Zhao Liang, Wu Wenxue, Xia Xiaomin, Chen Bingzhang, He Ding, Liu Hongbin
ISME Communications (2025)
https://doi.org/10.1093/ismeco/ycaf002
Modelling global mesozooplankton biomass using machine learning
Liu Kailin, Xu Zhimeng, Liu Xin, Huang Bangqin, Liu Hongbin, Chen Bingzhang
Progress in Oceanography Vol 229 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2024.103371
Machine learning reveals biological activities as the dominant factor in controlling deoxygenation in the South Yellow Sea
Liu Qingyi, Liu Chunli, Meng Qicheng, Su Bei, Ye Haijun, Chen Bingzhang, Li Wei, Cao Xinyu, Nie Wenlong, Ma Nina
Continental Shelf Research Vol 283 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csr.2024.105348
Differential impacts of temperature increase on prokaryotes across temperature regimes in subtropical coastal waters : insights from field experiments
Gu Bowei, Ma Xiao, Chen Bingzhang, Liu Hongbin, Zhang Yang, Xia Xiaomin
Limnology and Oceanography Vol 70, pp. 40-53 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12740
Constraining the twilight zone remineralization in the South China Sea basin : insights from the multi-method intercomparison
Xu Chao, Xiang Mingwang, Chen Bingzhang, Huang Yibin, Qiu Guoqiang, Zhang Yuchen, Wang Haili, Huang Bangqin
Progress in Oceanography Vol 228 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pocean.2024.103316
Nutrient availability influences the thermal response of marine diatoms
Pang Mengwen, Liu Kailin, Chen Bingzhang, Zhang Xiaodong, Gao Zuyuan, Xu Zhimeng, Tan Yehui, Yang Jing, Liu Hongbin
Limnology and Oceanography Vol 69, pp. 2318-2331 (2024)
https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.12671

More publications

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Research Interests

The primary focus of my research is how biodiversity affects marine ecosystem functioning such as primary production and biological carbon pump, for which the primary producers particularly phytoplankton play the pivotal role. The main questions I ask are:

 

i) What are the main patterns of functional traits, diversity, biomass, and productivity of primary producers including phytoplankton and macroalgae in the ocean?

 

ii)  What are the main processes determining these patterns?

 

iii) What are the fundamental roles of diversity on ecosystem functioning?

 

One specific question that has been intriguing me during the past several years is whether there exists a difference of temperature sensitivity between autotrophs and heterotrophs. While this appears a simple/trivial question, I have found that it can be a central theme linking statistics (regression), ecology (Metabolic Theory of Ecology and trait-based approaches), and earth sciences (biological pump and Glacial/inter-glacial CO2 fluctuations).

Professional Activities

Partitioning the slope of the Ordinary Least-Squares regression into within- and between-group components and its application in understanding the metabolic asymmetry between autotrophs and heterotrophs
Speaker
25/1/2024
MASTS Marine Artificial Intelligence Forum Steering Group (External organisation)
Advisor
11/2023
How to write an academic paper?
Speaker
16/7/2023
MASTS Scientific Advisory Panel (External organisation)
Advisor
6/2023
Engage with Strathclyde
Organiser
2/5/2023
Modeling the effect of plankton temperature sensitivity on the efficiency of biological carbon pump
Speaker
12/4/2023

More professional activities

Projects

How does phytoplankton diversity affect primary production in the ocean?
Chen, Bingzhang (Principal Investigator) Banas, Neil (Co-investigator) Heath, Mike (Co-investigator)
01-Jan-2021 - 31-Jan-2024
Why phytoplankton are so diverse in the ocean desert?
Chen, Bingzhang (Principal Investigator)
01-Jan-2020 - 30-Jan-2022
Modelling phytoplankton diversity and productivity across the South China Sea continental slope
Chen, Bingzhang (Principal Investigator)
04-Jan-2019 - 31-Jan-2022
Global warming, plankton functional diversity, and the biological ocean pump
Chen, Bingzhang (Principal Investigator) Banas, Neil (Principal Investigator)
This project aims to understand the roles of plankton functional diversity on the biological ocean pump, a key process of the global carbon cycle, within the context of global warming.
We focus on the vast oligotrophic open ocean and our objective is to combine model development and observational data to address the key questions below:
What types of plankton functional traits will be the most important for primary production and carbon export?
What are the patterns of plankton functional diversity in the oligotrophic open ocean?
How will warming affect both plankton functional diversity and carbon export?
01-Jan-2019 - 01-Jan-2022
Life history and dispersal of the alien seaweed Sargassum muticum in Scottish coastal waters: an individual-based modelling approach
Chen, Bingzhang (Principal Investigator) Blight, Andrew (Co-investigator) Paterson, David (Co-investigator)
This project will address the key factors driving the expansion of the invasive seaweed Sargassum muticum in Scottish coastal waters. As invasive species tend to have negative impacts on key ecosystem services such as aquaculture, recreation and marine transportation, elucidating the mechanisms that lead to the successful invasion of Sargassum muticum will contribute to our understanding of Sargassum muticum expansion and may allow management to preserve the key ecosystem services of our coastal seas.
01-Jan-2019 - 31-Jan-2023
Warming up the arm race: how temperature affects interactions between phytoplankton and microzooplankton
Chen, Bingzhang (Principal Investigator) Menden-Deuer, Susanne (Visiting Academic)
This is a travel grant supported by FILAMO, University of Bergen, Norway. The main aim is to construct a trait-based model of both phytoplankton and microzooplankton that can incorporate the observed patterns of thermal traits and can reproduce the patterns of both trait identity and diversity of plankton.
01-Jan-2019 - 31-Jan-2020

More projects

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Contact

Dr Bingzhang Chen
Senior Lecturer
Mathematics and Statistics

Email: bingzhang.chen@strath.ac.uk
Tel: 548 3286