Deep mixing events in the ocean’s surface layer act as physical drivers of carbon export by detraining dissolved and particulate organic matter, including surface phytoplankton communities, to depth. Once removed from the sunlit surface ocean environment, phytoplankton accumulation rates are dependent on the relative contributions of loss processes, such as...
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a ubiquitous environmental microbe, opportunistic pathogen, and a highly social organism. P. aeruginosa utilizes a wide array of cooperative behaviors to adapt to the environmental conditions around it. These behaviors include quorum sensing (QS), a form a cell-to-cell signaling that coordinates the expression of secreted products in...
The demand for the development of sustainable energy is an all time high as we burn through limited fossil fuel reserves and as environmental concerns rise every year. Renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power have limitations due to inconsistent power supply that cannot meet the regular needs...
Secondary metabolites (SMs) play an integral role in the life history of most fungal species. Fungal metabolomic studies provide insights into how fungi perform certain ecological functions, how they compete and interact with other organisms, and the breadth of fungal chemodiversity. Fungal SMs have also been utilized for a variety...
Iron (Fe) is an important limiting nutrient that can affect the rate of ocean primary production because it is required by phytoplankton as an enzymatic cofactor in photosynthesis, nitrogen fixation, and other essential metabolic functions. Most Fe reaches the surface of the open ocean via atmospheric dust deposition, which is...
Microscopic organisms inhabit virtually every niche on this planet, where they perform functions vital to all life on earth. Accordingly, humans host a complex community of microorganisms (i.e. the gut microbiome) that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract and modulate host physiology. Insight into the specific mechanisms through which gut microbes influence...
The Southern Ocean plays an important role in the ocean’s uptake of heat and carbon yet the processes controlling this uptake are not well understood. To date, more than 100 biogeochemical profiling floats that measure water column pH, oxygen, nitrate, fluorescence, and backscattering at 10-day intervals have been deployed throughout...
Photosynthetic energy allocation strategies were investigated in the marine diatom, Thalassiosira pseudonana, grown under a wide range of light limitation. Steady-state, continuous cultures were established at three light-limited growth rates. Simultaneous measurements of photosynthetic activity were made that targeted different points in photosynthetic energy flow from gross to net photosynthesis....
Ocean Acidification (OA) has emerged as a major threat to marine ecosystems, particularly regarding calcifying organisms. A growing body of literature describing laboratory investigations into pH stress indicates broadly deleterious effects for calcifiers, but responses vary greatly across taxa and can be influenced by variations in other environmental characteristics. Scaling...
Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects ruminant populations worldwide. The characteristic stages of the disease make diagnosis difficult, resulting in silent transmission among animals in a herd for years before proper detection of the infection. The extensive...