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#phytoplankton

3 posts2 participants0 posts today
Public
IRAP

[Back on #Earth ...] Between land and sea there's the beach, the #sand and its grains of #quartz that the breaking #waves continuously disintegrate, feeding the #phytoplankton with dissolved silicon.

This new source of dissolved silicon has just been discovered by several OMP researchers, including Sébastien Fabre from IRAP. It joins those provided by rivers, groundwater discharges and hydrothermal vents.

How is the #BiologicalPump, the mechanism by which the ocean captures and sequesters atmospheric #CO2, affected? Find out here: irap.omp.eu/en/2025/03/the-con

Wave breaking in a swell channel
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
The study of #phytoplankton is difficult because of their small size. For this we thank Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1722), the "father of microbiology". This Dutch draper was self-taught in creating high-quality #microscope lenses to examine thread. He then viewed tooth scrapings and water, coined the term "animalcules" for #protozoa, and first described Spirogyra (👍 genus name from JHF Link) as “spirally wound serpent-wise earthy particles”. A #science was born.

image/jpeg a sketch of a man in academic style robes, a crevat, and long curled wig, sitting by a globe and holding a scientific instrument. Antoni van Leeuwenhoek. Mezzotint by J. Verkolje, 1686 CC BY 4.0
image/jpeg an old brass instrument comprised of a large backing plate, with a screw mechanism on the front which comes to a sharp point. A glass lens in the plate is barely visible near the point. Van Leeuwenhoek microscope. Museum Boerhaave, Leiden CC-BY-SA 3.0
image/jpeg a view through a microscope of an algal filaments that contains two very green spirals in a double helix, similar to the structure of DNA. The charophyte green algae Spirogyra. Public Domain.
Public
Tino Eberl

#Mikroorganismen in der #Antarktis reagieren stark auf steigende Temperaturen und den Rückgang des #Meereises.

Wärmere Bedingungen verändern das Gleichgewicht zwischen #Bakterien und #Phytoplankton – mit möglichen Folgen für die gesamte marine #Nahrungskette.

Weniger #Phytoplankton bedeutet weniger #Nährstoffe für #Krill, #Fische und #Meeressäuger.

dx.doi.org/10.1186/s40793-025-

#Ozeane #Klimawandel #Ökosysteme #Forschung #Artenschutz

BioMed CentralSpatial and temporal variation of Antarctic microbial interactions: a study around the west Antarctic Peninsula - Environmental MicrobiomeBackground The west Antarctic Peninsula (WAP) is a region of rapid environmental changes, with regional differences in climate warming along the north–south axis of the peninsula. Along the WAP, Palmer corresponds to a warmer region with lesser sea ice extent in the north compared to Rothera ~ 400 km to the south. Comprehensive and comparative, year-round assessments of the WAP microbial community dynamics in coastal surface waters at these two locations are imperative to understand the effects of regional climate warming variations on microbial community dynamics, but this is still lacking. Results We report on the seasonal diversity, taxonomic overview, as well as predicted inter-and intra-domain causal effects (interactions) of the bacterial and microbial eukaryotic communities close to the Palmer station and at the Rothera time-series site between July 2013 and April 2014. Our 16S- and 18S-rRNA gene amplicon sequencing data showed that across all seasons, both bacteria and microbial eukaryotic communities were considerably different between the two sites which could be attributed to seawater temperature, and sea ice coverage in combination with sea ice type differences. Overall, in terms of biotic drivers, causal-effect modelling suggests that bacteria were stronger drivers of ecosystem dynamics at Palmer, while microbial eukaryotes played a stronger role at Rothera. The parasitic taxa Syndiniales persevered at both sites across the seasons, with Palmer and Rothera harbouring different key groups. Up to 62.3% of the negative causal effects were driven by Syndiniales at Rothera compared to only 13.5% at Palmer, suggesting that parasitism drives community dynamics at Rothera more strongly than at Palmer. Conversely, SAR11 Clade II, which was less abundant but persistent year-round at both sites, was the dominant driver at Palmer, evidenced by many (28.2% and 37.4% of positive and negative effects respectively) strong causal effects. Article note: Kindly check first page article notes are correct. Conclusions Our research has shed light on the dynamics of microbial community composition and correlative interactions at two sampling locations that represent different climate regimes along the WAP.
Public
Warren Currie 🦠🦐

Weekend #Plankton #Factoid 🦠🦐
Most aquatic scientists, particularly those working on #algae are familiar with the name Hans Utermöhl. His name is synonymous with the "Utermöhl method" of settling #phytoplankton in a slide-off sedimentation chamber, with the base chamber assessed using an inverted light #microscope (which he helped develop). Every phytoplankton taxonomist uses this technique. He was foundational in the #German #limnology research community. #science
academic.oup.com/plankt/articl

image/jpeg a historical photo of clean cut man in a lab coat sitting in front of a microscope in a lab. Photo from Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Biology.
image/jpeg a historical photo of a microscope with a distinct bottom mounted lens system that points upward. A series a glass tubes with wooden a box of glass slide plates sits to the side. Image from Utermöhl (1931).
Public
JanPV

For a 1922 microscope I refurbished myself this week, but still retaining all-original parts, this is not bad at all.

The quality of the image is not down to the 1922 optics; it's a product of a poor mobile phone camera from 100 years later!

#microscopy#phytoplankton#plankton
Public
Kayla Martin
Progression of a phytoplankton bloom. These images are taken over the course of 1 hour and demonstrate how fast ocean conditions can change. The dominant species of this bloom was the bioluminescent dinoflagellate Lingulodinium polyedra. Images were taken from the Scripps Pier Live Cam hosted by the Coastal Ocean Observing Lab #phytoplankton #harmfulalgalblooms #scrippspier #scrippsinstitutionofoceanography #oceanography #science #womeninscience
#womeninscience
Public
Soh Kam Yung

Fascinating.

"The study shows that in some of the coldest, darkest places on Earth, life blooms with the barest quantum of light. “At least some phytoplankton, under some conditions, may be able to do some very useful things at very low light,” said Douglas Campbell (opens a new tab), a specialist in aquatic photosynthesis at Mount Allison University in Canada, who was not involved in the study. “It’s important work.”"

quantamagazine.org/how-does-li

Photosynthesis happening in darkness
Quanta Magazine · How Does Life Happen When There’s Barely Any Light?By Asher Elbein
#Biology#Light#Photosynthesis
Public
Lukas VFN 🇪🇺

An abundant #phytoplankton feeds a global network of marine microbes news.mit.edu/2025/abundant-phy paper: science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv

"#Prochlorococcus shed DNA building blocks into their surroundings, where they are then taken up by other ocean organisms, either as nutrients, energy, or for regulating metabolism... this cross-feeding occurs on a regular cycle: Prochlorococcus tend to shed their molecular baggage at night, when enterprising #microbes quickly consume the cast-offs."

a cute illustration of sleeping microbes
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