Category Archives: Diversity and Biogeography

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Winners and losers in a warming ocean

Climate Change, Diversity and Biogeography,

by Alli Gold Roberts (MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change)
Read this story at MIT News

Phytoplankton — small plant-like organisms that serve as the base of the marine ecosystem — play a crucial role in maintaining the health of our oceans by consuming carbon dioxide and fueling the food web. But with a changing climate, which of these vital organisms will survive, and what impact will their demise have on fish higher up the chain?
Stephanie Dutkiewicz, a researcher with the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change, and her colleagues developed a model that investigates the potential effects of climate change on phytoplankton.

Continue reading Winners and losers in a warming ocean →

Publication

Ward, B.A., S. Dutkiewicz, C.M. Moore and M.J. Follows (2013), Iron, phosphorus, and nitrogen supply ratios define the biogeography of nitrogen fixation Limnology and Oceanography, vol. 58, pp. 2059, doi: 10.4319/lo.2013.58.6.2059

 

Publication

Barton, A.D., Z.V. Finkel, B.A. Ward, D.G. Johns and M.J. Follows (2013), The roles of cell size and trophic strategy in North Atlantic diatom and dinoflagellate communities. Limnology and Oceanography, 58(1), 2013, 254-266, doi: 10.4319/lo.2013.58.1.0254

Publication

Dutkiewicz, S. (2012), Power in Modeling Virtual Marine Microbes, Microbes magazine, 7, 314-319, LINK

Publication

Dutkiewicz, S., B. A. Ward, F. Monteiro, and M. J. Follows (2012), Interconnection of nitrogen fixers and iron in the Pacific Ocean: Theory and numerical simulations, Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 26, GB1012, doi: 10.1029/2011GB004039

Publication

Karsenti, E., S.G. Acinas, P. Bork, C. Bowler, C. De Vargas, J. Raes, M. Sullivan, D. Arendt, F. Benzoni, J.-M. Claverie, M. Follows, G. Gorsky, P. Hingamp, D. Ludicone, O. Jaillon, S. Kandels-Lewis, U. Krzic, F. Not, H. Ogata, S. Pesant, E.G. Reynaud, C. Sardet, M.E. Sieracki, S. Speich, D. Velayoudon, J. Weissenbach, P. Wincker (2011), A Holistic Approach to Marine Ecosystems Biology, PLoS Biology, 9(10), 1-5, doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001177

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Ecology of nitrogen fixers in the Pacific Ocean

Diversity and Biogeography, Nitrogen Fixation, , ,

Nitrogen is an essential component of all cells. It is used to make the amino acid building blocks of proteins, and is also required in the nucleic acids of DNA and RNA. Although nitrogen extremely abundant in the open ocean, it is mostly found in dissolved N2 molecules that cannot be used by most phytoplankton, who require nitrogen in its reduced, or “fixed” forms, such as nitrate or ammonium.

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Publication

Monteiro, F., S. Dutkiewicz, and M.J. Follows (2011), Biogeographical controls on the marine nitrogen fixers, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 25, GB2003, doi:10.1029/2010GB003902

 

Publication

Saito, M. A., E . M. Bertrand, S. Dutkiewicz, V. V. Bulygin, D. M. Moran, F. M. Monteiro, M. J. Follows, F. W. Valois, and J. B. Waterbury (2011), Iron conservation by reduction of metalloenzyme inventories in the marine diazotroph Crocosphaera watsonii.
Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1006943108