Microbes living in the sand on a barrier island alter the way they break down organic matter as their environment changes throughout the year, which has implications for the surrounding water column.
bacteria & microbes
Posted inFeatures
Deepwater Horizon and the Rise of the Omics
Microbial genomics techniques came of age following the Deepwater Horizon spill, offering researchers unparalleled insights into how ecosystems respond to such environmental disasters.
Posted inNews
Microbes Discovered Hanging Out in the Ocean’s Crust
“The lower ocean crust is one of the last frontiers of the exploration for life on Earth.”
Posted inScience Updates
Microbial Influences on Subduction Zone Carbon Cycling
An innovative collaboration is investigating how geobiological processes alter fluxes of carbon and other materials between the deep Earth and the surface.
Posted inNews
Interstellar Visitors Could Export Terrestrial Life to Other Stars
A handful of interstellar objects and long-period comets could have scooped up microorganisms from Earth and carried them to worlds around other stars.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Anaerobic Activity Is a Big Contributor in Marine “Dead Zones”
Climate models that do not account for anaerobic microbial activity may underestimate future expansion of oxygen-depleted waters.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Investigating Rates of Microbial Methane Munching in the Ocean
Analyses of microbial activity in seawater samples help clarify the fate of methane released from the seafloor.
Posted inNews
Dead Reefs Keep Calcifying but Only by Day
A new measurement technique has revealed that turf algae communities colonizing dead reefs have a dual role, adding new mineral material to the reefs during the day and taking it away at night.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Sunlight Stimulates Brown Algae to Release Organic Carbon
Sargassum and other brown algae might be an underappreciated contributor of organic compounds called polyphenols to the open ocean.
Posted inNews
Did Bacterial Enzymes Cap the Oxygen in Early Earth’s Atmosphere?
A new theory suggests that nitrogenase from cyanobacteria could be the reason oxygen levels remained low after the Great Oxidation Event.