Australia's Ocean Microbiome: How the diversity and functionality of microbes influence key oceanographic provinces

Funding: 2012: $124,617
2013: $107,843
2014: $111,102

Project Member(s): Seymour, J.

Funding or Partner Organisation: University of Sydney (The University of New South Wales)
Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Projects)
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO Division of Minerals (Partnership Funding))
University of Liverpool
NSW Department of Environment and Climate Change (NSW Department of Environment, Climate Change and Water)
South Australian Research and Development Institute

Start year: 2012

Summary: Although unseen, microbes underpin the health of our ocean ecosystems. They represent 50-90% of total ocean biomass, regulate ocean chemistry and influence climate. However, we know very little about their composition and function in Australian waters. Our research will close this knowledge-gap by employing; (i) state-of-the-art genomic tools to identify the microbes inhabiting key Australian marine waters and (ii) a suite of innovative physiological measurements to determine how these microbes alter the chemistry of seawater. During a time that climate change is altering Australian marine ecosystems, this data will allow us to define the essential ecosystem services provided by marine microbes and how these may change in the future.

Publications:

Moore, LR, Huang, T, Ostrowski, M, Mazard, S, Kumar, SS, Gamage, HKAH, Brown, MV, Messer, LF, Seymour, JR & Paulsen, IT 2019, 'Unicellular Cyanobacteria Are Important Components of Phytoplankton Communities in Australia’s Northern Oceanic Ecoregions', Frontiers in Microbiology, vol. 9, no. JAN.
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Rinke, C, Rubino, F, Messer, LF, Youssef, N, Parks, DH, Chuvochina, M, Brown, M, Jeffries, T, Tyson, GW, Seymour, JR & Hugenholtz, P 2019, 'A phylogenomic and ecological analysis of the globally abundant Marine Group II archaea (Ca. Poseidoniales ord. nov.)', The ISME Journal, vol. 13, no. 3, pp. 663-675.
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Messer, LF, Brown, MV, Furnas, MJ, Carney, RL, McKinnon, AD & Seymour, JR 2017, 'Diversity and Activity of Diazotrophs in Great Barrier Reef Surface Waters', Frontiers in Microbiology, vol. 8, no. JUN, pp. 1-16.
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Bibiloni‐Isaksson, J, Seymour, JR, Ingleton, T, van de Kamp, J, Bodrossy, L & Brown, MV 2016, 'Spatial and temporal variability of aerobic anoxygenic photoheterotrophic bacteria along the east coast of Australia', Environmental Microbiology, vol. 18, no. 12, pp. 4485-4500.
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Keywords: MicrobialOceanographyBacteriaPlankton

FOR Codes: Microbial Ecology, Marine Oceanic Processes (excl. climate related), Biological Oceanography, Marine Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity, Marine biodiversity, Oceanic processes (excl. in the Antarctic and Southern Ocean)

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, the Boorooberongal people of the Dharug Nation, the Bidiagal people and the Gamaygal people, upon whose ancestral lands our university stands. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.