Geobiology |
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Enlarge ImagePushcore being taken by DSV Alvin for microfaunal analysis from a Gulf of Mexico cold seep, a so-called ?extreme environment.?
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Enlarge ImageEpifluorescence micrograph of a DAPI stained specimen of the anaerobic ciliate Metopus verrucosus. The blue color, from DAPI, shows the three macronuclei of the ciliate as well as transverse bands of rod-shaped ectosymbionts. Surrounding material is from co-occurring microbiota, including filamentous sulfur oxidizing bacteria. Sample from Santa Barbara Basin, CA. Photo by Joan M. Bernhard.
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| At its broadest definition,
Geobiology uses interdisciplinary approaches to investigate
interactions between the biosphere and lithosphere or atmosphere.
Geobiology projects at WHOI include:
- Protistan and metazoan life in extreme environments (seeps, sulfidic sediments, ice; Bernhard, Edgcomb, Das, Kujawinski)
- Protistan-Prokaryote symbioses and potential effects on pore water chemistry (Bernhard, Edgcomb)
- Microbial controls on sediment biogeochemistry (e.g., McCorkle, Martin, Casciotti, Bernhard)
- Microbial interactions in sediments (Bernhard)
- Protist / microbial influences on sediment chemistry and fabric (Bernhard)
- Use of lipid biomarkers to
understand the production, transformation, transport and preservation
of organic matter in marine and terrestrial environments (Eglinton,
Reddy, Van Mooy)
- Microbe-organic contaminant interactions in aquatic systems (Reddy, Kujawinksi, Eglinton)
- DNA in ancient sediments (Coolen)
- Biomineralization (Cohen, McCorkle, Gaetani, Bernhard)
Links to other WHOI research at the biology-geology-chemistry interface:
Biomineralization & geochemistry of biogenic carbonate
Sediment Geochemistry
Laser Scanning Confocal Micrograph of
part of a fluorescently labeled core processed
for FLEC (see Bernhard web page).
Sediment-water interface is near the top of the
image, all live organisms are bright green,
larger individuals are foraminifera; filaments
are bacteria. This method is a powerful new
addition to microbial ecology that has shown
unprecedented spatial associations among
microbiota at the sub-millimeter scale. Many
environments remain to be investigated using
this approach. Image, J.M. Bernhard.
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