Keystone microbes and planktonic guilds in Australia's oceans

该项目旨在揭示海洋中隐藏的哨兵，即支撑宝贵生态系统服务的“关键微生物”，它们可用于监测和模拟海洋功能的变化。海洋微生物占海洋生物量的90%，每升海水含有约20 000种不同的物种，但不知道哪些物种控制着海洋的健康和生产力。该项目旨在为这些关键细胞水平的生物地球化学和代谢能力提供明确的证据。最终，这些知识有望预测海洋生态系统的恢复能力及其对变化的反应。预测其动态的能力将有助于提供投资清晰度，并增加娱乐、粮食生产和旅游等涉及人类与海洋相互作用的活动的健康成果。

This project aims to unveil the ocean’s hidden sentinels, “keystone microbes” that underpin precious ecosystem services, and which can be used to monitor and model changes in ocean function. Marine microbes account for 90 per cent of oceanic biomass and every litre of seawater contains ~20,000 different species, but it is not known which species control ocean health and productivity. This project intends to provide definitive evidence of these keystones’ cellular level biogeochemical and metabolic capacity. Ultimately, this knowledge is expected to predict the resilience of ocean ecosystems and their response to change. The capacity to predict their dynamics will help provide investment clarity and increase healthy outcomes from activities involving human-ocean interactions such as recreation, food production and tourism.