U.S.-Germany Cooperative Research: Carbon Cycling in Marine Sediments

该合作研究奖支持Carol Arnosti和北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校的一名研究生与德国不来梅马克斯·普朗克海洋微生物研究所生物地球化学系的B.B.Jorgensen合作。研究的重点是负责转化大分子有机物，最终将其还原为二氧化碳的复杂细菌群落。由于美方在研究有机物再矿化的初始步骤方面有经验，而这家德国集团有研究最后阶段的经验，因此合作允许以独特的方式融合互补的专业知识。海洋沉积物中碳再矿化的速度和途径深刻地影响着当地和全球范围内的碳循环。然而，负责有机碳再矿化的不同微生物群体的组成和动态在很大程度上是未知的，再矿化过程中的速率控制步骤也很少被了解。通过将重点放在再矿化的初始步骤和结束步骤之间的联系上，该合作项目应该能够更深入地了解碳循环的这些关键步骤。

9813991ArnostiThis cooperative research award supports Carol Arnosti and a graduate student from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to collaborate with B.B. Jorgensen of the Department of Biogeochemistry at the Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Bremen, Germany. The focus of the research is the complex community of bacteria responsible for transforming macromolecular organic matter, ultimately reducing it to CO2. The collaboration allows a unique blend of complementary expertise, since the U.S. side has experience in the study of the initial steps of organic matter remineralization and the German group has experience studying the final stages. The rates and pathways of carbon remineralization in marine sediments profoundly affect carbon cycling on local as well as global scales. The composition and dynamics of the diverse group of microbes responsible for remineralization of organic carbon, however, are largely unknown, and the rate-controlling steps in the remineralization process only poorly understood. By focusing on the links between the initial and terminal steps in remineralization, the collaborative project should lead to greater insight into these key steps of the carbon cycle.