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

9813991Arnosti这个合作研究奖支持卡罗尔Arnosti和一个研究生从北卡罗来纳州大学在查佩尔山与B. B.位于德国不莱梅的马克斯·普朗克海洋微生物学研究所生物地球化学系的乔根森说。 研究的重点是负责转化大分子有机物的复杂细菌群落，最终将其还原为二氧化碳。 这种合作使得互补的专业知识能够独特地融合在一起，因为美国方面在研究有机物生物化的初始步骤方面有经验，而德国小组在研究最后阶段方面有经验。 海洋沉积物中碳的矿化速率和途径深刻地影响着局部和全球尺度的碳循环。 然而，负责有机碳矿化的不同微生物组的组成和动力学在很大程度上是未知的，并且对矿化过程中的速率控制步骤知之甚少。 通过重点关注生态化的初始和最终步骤之间的联系，该合作项目应有助于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.