Deciphering Ocean Carbon

The complex unpacking of how micro-organisms work - and work together - in the world's oceans continues apace, as this new perspective article by marine sciences faculty members attests:

In the past, studying the connections between ocean-borne compounds and microbes has been impractical because of the sheer complexity of each. Three University of Georgia faculty members-along with an international team of scientists-bring to the forefront technological developments that are providing scientists with the analytical tools needed to understand these molecular-level relationships.

Their perspective article appears March 7 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It focuses on dissolved organic matter, or DOM, in the world's oceans as a central carbon reservoir in the current and future global carbon cycle.

"Dissolved organic carbon is an amazing and confounding molecular soup," said Aron Stubbins, co-author and associate professor of marine sciences at UGA housed at the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography in Savannah. "It sits at the center of the ocean carbon cycle, directing the energy flow from the tiny plants of the sea, phytoplankton, to ocean bacteria. Though around a quarter of all the sunlight trapped by plants each year passes through dissolved organic carbon, we know very little about the chemistry of the molecules or the biology of the bacterial players involved."

The carbon the microbes process is stored in seawater in the form of tens of thousands of different dissolved organic compounds.

The need to resist using the adjective 'amazing' is probably a good sign but definitely an indicator of the leveraged breakthroughs in understanding these scientists describe. Great work that hints at even broader impacts. Dr. Moran and her colleagues, both at UGA and abroad, exemplify the relentless diligence that has always been needed to unlock the mysteries of how our world works.

Image: Diagram of ocean carbon uptake process, via NOAA