Download A Decade of Marine Microbial Ecology

Laboratory for Marine Microbial
Ecology
Michael S. Rappé, Ph.D.
Assistant Researcher
Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology
[email protected]
Research Topics
Marine bacterioplankton
Deep subsurface biosphere
Coral-associated microbes
What is it we really want to know?
• Who is there? (Diversity)
• How many of each “type” (species? ecotype? phylotype?
functional group?) are present at any given time and
location? (Spatial and temporal distribution)
• What are they doing? What resources and strategies are
they using for obtaining energy and cellular carbon?
How fast are they doing it? (Biogeochemical cycling)
• How do they interact (with each other or their host)?
Why HIMB?
Unparalleled access to
environments under study:
Coral reefs
Sharp productivity gradient
from near-shore to open
ocean
Unlimited access to pristine
seawater for large volume (e.g. >100
L) cultivation experiments,
mesocosms, etc
Test bed for instrumentation
intended for remote/autonomous
implementation
Grants and Contracts Summary
• PI or co-PI on five active grants totaling $10.5 million (NSF, NOAA,
Hawaii Sea Grant, Agouron Institute)
• PI or co-PI on three active awards for high volume DNA sequencing
(DOE, GBMF)
• Play roles in two research centers at UH, which total close to $25
million (C-MORE, PRCMB)
• Slightly over $2 million for direct support of research in my laboratory;
over half ($1.1 million) is for ongoing or future research
• NSF funding secured through 2012
• Four pending proposals
Personnel
Graduate Students
Amy Apprill, Oceanography, PhD
Darin Hayakawa, Microbiology, PhD
Jennifer Salerno, Zoology, PhD
Tracy Campbell, Oceanography, MS
Sara Yeo, Oceanography, MS
Undergraduate Interns
Chelsea Dudoit
Postdoctoral Scholars
Alex Eiler, PhD, Uppsala University
Megan Huggett, PhD, UNSW
Technical Staff
Misty Miller
Naomi Wagoner
Marine Bacterioplankton
•
Develop new microbial systems for studying marine
bacterioplankton via novel isolation and cultivation methodology
•
Investigate the evolutionary processes that shape
bacterioplankton clades and define taxa that can be treated as
functional units by oceanographers studying ocean ecology
•
Measure the spatial and temporal distribution of bacterioplankton
lineages in Kaneohe Bay, the Hawaii Ocean Time-series Study
Site, and as research cruise participants
•
Comparative genomics of marine bacteria
•
Perform genome-enabled, environmentally relevant microbial
physiology with strains of important bacterioplankton
•
Funding: C-MORE, PRCMB, GBMF, DOE, NSF
Coral-Associated
Microbes
• Identify microorganisms associated
with colonies of healthy corals
common to the Hawaiian islands
• Map coral-associated microbial
lineages at a range of spatial and
temporal scales
• Compare CAM communities between
apparently healthy corals and those
exhibiting disease and/or bleaching
• Investigate microorganisms present in
different life stages (egg, larvae) of
corals, and compare them to adults
• Isolate major groups of coralassociated microorganisms for
laboratory-based experimentation and
analysis
• Funding: NOAA, NSF, PRCMB
Deep Subsurface Biosphere
• Identify and quantify the microorganisms present
in deep subsurface crustal fluids
• Assay the metabolic potential of the deep
subsurface microbiota by nutrient enrichment,
culturing, and genomics
• Develop new environmental microbiology tools for
remote sampling and manipulations
• Funding: NSF
Future Research Endeavors
The future of microbial oceanography and environmental
microbiology lies in collaborative, multi-disciplinary research such
as that found in C-MORE and PRCMB. My planned research
endeavors will either take advantage of the multi-investigator,
multi-disciplinary centers and their existing infrastructure or use
them as a model for future collaborative science
•
Sensor technology and the remote acquisition of microbial
community structure and physiological data
•
Promote HIMB as a test site for microbial sensor development
and a platform for mesocosm experimentation
Relation to SOEST Priority Areas
and Issues
•
•
•
Ocean observing
Bigeochemistry of marine microorganisms
Coral health