Seminar: Phytoplankton photosynthesis in a deoxygenated ocean

Monday 22 May 2023

Location: Plymouth Marine Laboratory

Seminar: Phytoplankton photosynthesis in a deoxygenated ocean
When: Monday 22nd May at 12pm
Where: Plymouth Marine Laboratory: Marine Matters Centre Lecture Theatre (and online)

Abstract: Ocean deoxygenation is a current major threat to the status of marine ecosystems. In the major oceanic oxygen minimum zones, all surface phytoplankton groups disappear and are replaced by unique uncultivated lineages of the cyanobacterium Prochloroccoccus below the oxycline. They, in turn, present complementary genes or gene variants for several microaerobic or anaerobic metabolisms, particularly for pigment biosynthesis. These indigenous cyanobacteria drive a cryptic oxygen cycle and may have contributed to the oxidation of the ancient ocean. However, modern surface phyoplankton appear to be inhibited by low oxygen concentrations, such that ongoing deoxygenation may have a significant negative impact on future water-column primary production.

Prof. Osvaldo Ulloa is a Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellow at PML. He is a Professor at the Department of Oceanography and Director of the Millennium Institute of Oceanography at the Universidad de Concepción (UdeC) in Chile. He is also member of the Chilean Academy of Sciences. For the last twenty years, his research has focused on the microbial phylogenetic diversity and biogeochemistry of oxygen-depleted oceanic waters. His most recent work also includes the exploration and study of ultra-deep (hadal) environments, particularly the Atacama Trench.

This event is open to Marine Research Plymouth colleagues, to register for online access, please email comms@pml.ac.uk.