Marine Microbial Ecology Lab

Research

Unlocking the complex and immense interconnected mechanisms which dictate the properties and processes of the ocean is a major goal of the Marine Microbial Ecology Lab @ USM. We seek to acquire a detailed understanding of many systems and how these various systems function together to generate the field observations and measurements from our experimentation. Specifically, we focus on how physicochemical variability influences microbial interactions and regulate biogeochemical fluxes over broad ocean scales. We explore the realm of microbes in both the laboratory and field through (1) quantifying rates of microbial mortality (due to both viral lysis and nano/micro-zooplankton grazing) with special focus on how mortality influences population dynamics and biogeochemical cycling, (2) understanding how environmental forcing (both natural and anthropogenic) influences mortality processes and (3) implementing ecological models.
Have a look at some of our projects below.