NSF Org: |
OCE Division Of Ocean Sciences |
Recipient: |
|
Initial Amendment Date: | July 8, 2013 |
Latest Amendment Date: | July 8, 2013 |
Award Number: | 1332912 |
Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
Program Manager: |
Henrietta Edmonds
hedmonds@nsf.gov (703)292-7427 OCE Division Of Ocean Sciences GEO Directorate For Geosciences |
Start Date: | October 1, 2013 |
End Date: | September 30, 2018 (Estimated) |
Total Intended Award Amount: | $557,042.00 |
Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $557,042.00 |
Funds Obligated to Date: |
|
History of Investigator: |
|
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: |
615 W 131ST ST NEW YORK NY US 10027-7922 (212)854-6851 |
Sponsor Congressional District: |
|
Primary Place of Performance: |
61 Route 9W Palisades NY US 10964-1707 |
Primary Place of Performance Congressional District: |
|
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): |
|
Parent UEI: |
|
NSF Program(s): |
BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY, Chemical Oceanography |
Primary Program Source: |
|
Program Reference Code(s): |
|
Program Element Code(s): |
|
Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.050 |
ABSTRACT
Colonies of the cyanbacterium Trichodesmium are responsible for a large fraction of N2 fixation in nutrient-poor, open-ocean ecosystems, ultimately fueling primary production in both Trichodesmium and in the broader planktonic community. However, in some parts of the ocean, the scarcity of dissolved phosphorus limits rates of Trichodesmium N2 fixation. Trichodesmium colonies employ an arsenal of strategies to mitigate the effects of phosphorus limitation, and the consortia of epibiotic bacteria in the colonies may play a significant role in phosphorus acquisition.
In this study, researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Columbia University will use metagenomic and metatranscriptomic sequencing to investigate how phosphorus metabolism is coordinated in Trichodesmium consortia, and to discern the role of quorum sensing in phosphorus acquisition and partitioning. Results from this study are expected to expand understanding of Trichodesmium from a monospecific colony whose primary function is fixing CO2 and N2 toward a unique planktonic consortium with a diverse, complex, and highly coordinated overall metabolism that exerts profound control over the cycling of inorganic and organic nutrients in the oligotrophic upper ocean.
Broader Impacts: This project will provide research experience for an under-represented ethnic graduate student and take advantage of established K-12 standards-based outreach programs to increase ocean literacy in children and amongst the public.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
Note:
When clicking on a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) number, you will be taken to an external site maintained by the publisher. Some full text articles may not yet be available without a charge during the embargo (administrative interval).
Some links on this page may take you to non-federal websites. Their policies may differ from this site.
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
The activities of plant-like cells called phytoplankton in the surface ocean serve as the basis for the marine food web, and they also serve an important role in the Earth?s climate by consuming the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide through photosynthesis. Like plants, phytoplankton need resources like nitrogen and phosphorus to grow. Nitrogen and phosphorus are thought to limit the growth of phytoplankton in many ocean regions, and studying these resources, and how they are cycled, is critical to understanding phytoplankton and their crucial role in ocean food webs and carbon cycling. This project focused on the phytoplankton genus Trichodesmium, which lives in colonies with its own attached bacteria in a community called the microbiome. Trichodesmium serves a crucial role in low nitrogen ecosystems by converting nitrogen gas into forms of nitrogen that are bioavailable to other phytoplankton, a process called nitrogen fixation. Through a series of field observations and experiments that leveraged new methods we determined that Trichodesmium is able to both make and use many forms of phosphorus, and that this phosphorus is likely exchanged with the microbiome. These findings are changing our view of how phosphorus is cycled in the ocean. We took advantage of the fact that communication molecules can be produced and taken up in the microbiome, but not by Trichodesmium, to selectively change the activity of the microbiome alone and evaluate the Trichodesmium response. Using this approach, we learned for the first time that the microbiome could change the rate of Trichodesmium nitrogen fixation. This means that communication between microscopic cells in the ocean can change the activities of phytoplankton and their crucial role in marine food webs and the carbon cycle.
Last Modified: 11/30/2018
Modified by: Sonya Dyhrman
Please report errors in award information by writing to: awardsearch@nsf.gov.