A temperature & irradiance controlled growth chamber for phytoplankton physiological research

海洋浮游植物，单细胞藻类，通过将大气中的二氧化碳固定为有机碳，对全球碳循环以及气候产生重大影响。 这些有机碳中的很大一部分通过所谓的“生物泵”被输送到深海。 今天海洋吸收大气中二氧化碳的能力低于上一个冰河时期，因为浮游植物的生长受到30%海洋中铁供应不足的限制。 尽管在广阔的海洋区域的慢性铁限制，一些浮游植物物种是丰富的，在这些沃茨，而其他人保持低的“种子”人口，可以积极响应零星的铁输入。 因此，不同的浮游植物有不同的策略来获取和储存铁，并可能有能力取代更丰富的微量元素铁。 这些不同的生理适应具有重要的生态意义期间广泛的铁饥饿或零星的铁输入。 为了提高我们对碳循环的理解，必须调查微量金属和pCO 2在控制海洋生产力和生态中的作用。 我们的研究小组，通过实验室和实地研究，调查海洋浮游植物的生理适应光介导的氧化应激，可变的二氧化碳浓度，并通过确定各种代谢过程的速率，并检查基因和蛋白质的表达参与光合作用，C收购/固定和微量金属收购/代谢/存储限制微量金属浓度。 我们的研究方法包括：a）在严格控制的实验室培养条件下阐明浮游植物的生理反应，以及B）检查这些反应是否在海上起作用。 我们的研究主要依赖于环境生长箱培养浮游植物在良好控制的温度和光照制度。 该提案要求为一个新的、最先进的培养室提供资金，以支持我们的实验室研究计划。

Marine phytoplankton, unicellular algae, have a major impact on the global carbon cycle-and hence climate-by fixing atmospheric carbon dioxide to organic carbon. A significant fraction of this organic C is transported to the deep ocean via the so-called 'biological pump'. The ocean's capacity to sequester atmospheric carbon dioxide today is lower than during the last ice-ages, as phytoplankton growth is limited by inadequate Fe supply in 30% of the ocean. Despite chronic Fe limitation in vast oceanic regions, some phytoplankton species are abundant in these waters, while others maintain low 'seed' populations which can respond vigorously to sporadic Fe inputs. It is thus clear that different phytoplankton have distinct strategies to acquire and store Fe, and may have the ability to substitute Fe for a more abundant trace element. These different physiological adaptations have important ecological implications during periods of extensive Fe starvation or sporadic Fe inputs. To improve our understanding of the carbon cycle, it is imperative to investigate the role of trace metals and pCO2 in controlling marine productivity and ecology. Our research groups, through laboratory and field studies, investigate the physiological adaptations of marine phytoplankton to light-mediated oxidative stress, variable carbon dioxide concentrations, and limiting trace metals concentrations by determining the rates of various metabolic processes, and examining the expression of genes and proteins involved in photosynthesis, C acquisition/fixation and trace metal acquisition/metabolism/storage. Our research approach consists of a) elucidating phytoplankton physiological responses under tightly controlled laboratory culture conditions and b) examining whether these responses operate at sea. Our research depends critically on environmental growth chambers for culturing phytoplankton under well controlled temperature and light regimes. This proposal requests funds for a new, state of the art, culturing chamber to support our laboratory research program.