Department of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences Seminar Announcement
When: Wednesday,
April 20, 2016
12:30 PM
-
1:30 PM
Where: > See description for location
Description: The School for Marine Science and Technology
Department of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences
Seminar Announcement
Biogeochemical roles of bacteria in association with marine copepods
Pia H. Moisander
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
SMAST I, Room 204
706 S. Rodney French Blvd
New Bedford, MA
Abstract:
Marine copepods (Arthropoda) are an important part of the marine food webs, serving as a major food source for fish larvae and other larger zooplankton. The nature and variability in composition and function of microbial communities present in association of copepods are currently not well understood. Our recent studies suggest that bacterial communities on copepods contain distinct stable and transient components, and these bacteria are likely to play a range of roles in marine biogeochemical cycles and food webs. We detected nitrogen (N2) fixation rates and N2 fixing bacteria on copepods collected from the coastal waters of the North Atlantic Ocean; some of these were N2-fixing Vibrio spp. that appear to maintain stable associations on copepods. Other potentially N2-fixing bacteria, including deltaproteobacterial groups and cyanobacterial N2 fixers that are symbiotic with eukaryotic phytoplankton, appear to end up in the copepods via copepod feeding on detrital material and live cells. These results and additional work conducted using high throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene from copepods collected from the temperate North Atlantic coastal waters and the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, suggest that feeding status plays a major role in controlling the copepod microbiome composition at any given time. In addition, our recent collaborative studies using stable isotope rate measurements and molecular analyses, detected other active nitrogen cycle transformations on copepod associations in both subtropical and temperate North Atlantic waters. The results suggest that if by-passing the protist-driven microbial loop, the bacteria associated with copepod food form an unconventional link in the marine food webs, thus potentially re-directing the path of carbon at the base of the marine food webs. Specific metabolic activities of the microbiome on copepods are also contributing to biogeochemical transformations of nitrogen in the surface layers of the ocean.
Note: Seminar will be simulcast to SMAST II, Room 325.
For additional information please contact Sue Silva at s1silva@umassd.edu.
Department of Estuarine and Ocean Sciences
Seminar Announcement
Biogeochemical roles of bacteria in association with marine copepods
Pia H. Moisander
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm
SMAST I, Room 204
706 S. Rodney French Blvd
New Bedford, MA
Abstract:
Marine copepods (Arthropoda) are an important part of the marine food webs, serving as a major food source for fish larvae and other larger zooplankton. The nature and variability in composition and function of microbial communities present in association of copepods are currently not well understood. Our recent studies suggest that bacterial communities on copepods contain distinct stable and transient components, and these bacteria are likely to play a range of roles in marine biogeochemical cycles and food webs. We detected nitrogen (N2) fixation rates and N2 fixing bacteria on copepods collected from the coastal waters of the North Atlantic Ocean; some of these were N2-fixing Vibrio spp. that appear to maintain stable associations on copepods. Other potentially N2-fixing bacteria, including deltaproteobacterial groups and cyanobacterial N2 fixers that are symbiotic with eukaryotic phytoplankton, appear to end up in the copepods via copepod feeding on detrital material and live cells. These results and additional work conducted using high throughput sequencing of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene from copepods collected from the temperate North Atlantic coastal waters and the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre, suggest that feeding status plays a major role in controlling the copepod microbiome composition at any given time. In addition, our recent collaborative studies using stable isotope rate measurements and molecular analyses, detected other active nitrogen cycle transformations on copepod associations in both subtropical and temperate North Atlantic waters. The results suggest that if by-passing the protist-driven microbial loop, the bacteria associated with copepod food form an unconventional link in the marine food webs, thus potentially re-directing the path of carbon at the base of the marine food webs. Specific metabolic activities of the microbiome on copepods are also contributing to biogeochemical transformations of nitrogen in the surface layers of the ocean.
Note: Seminar will be simulcast to SMAST II, Room 325.
For additional information please contact Sue Silva at s1silva@umassd.edu.
Contact: > See Description for contact information
Topical Areas: School for Marine Sciences and Technology, SMAST Seminar Series