Microbes and viruses
Viruses are the most abundant form of life in the ocean, with
over a nonillion (1030) organisms which form the largest
reservoir of genetic diversity in the sea. However, there is
surprisingly little known about their role in the marine ecosystem
and microbial cycles.
Viral infections are a major source of disease and mortality in
larger marine organisms and viruses may also play an important role
in the disintegration of massive plankton blooms and, therefore,
influence the composition of marine communities and biogeochemical
cycles.
PML is developing novel scientific approaches to understand how
the microbial world fits into ocean ecology by combining molecular,
biochemical and physiological techniques. The results from these
studies will then be used to refine ecosystem models and to
investigate the role of viruses in the cycling of nutrients and
trace gases.
So far PML scientists have found more than 65,000 bacterial
species in the western English Channel, of which nearly half are
new to science. This makes the station L4 the only marine station
in the world to have such detailed data, adding to PML’s
world-class zooplankton and phytoplankton data sets.
Using this data, fundamental questions can now be answered about
the role of bacterial communities in the marine ecosystem and about
how they will respond to climate change.
Projects
- Emiliania
huxleyi blooms
The PML Remote Sensing Group has developed
capability to detect blooms of the coccolithophore Emiliania
huxleyi. It is studied for the extensive blooms it forms
in nutrient depleted waters after the reformation of the summer
thermocline. Intense blooms of the coast of Devon and
Cornwall have received local and national media
coverage.