Nitrogen cycling in the ocean: Perspectives from genomes, remote instrumentation and satellites
Jonathan P. Zehr, Ph.D.
University of California, Santa Cruz
Wednesday, Sept. 8 2004
Pacific Forum – 3:00 p.m.
The
limitation of primary productivity in the oceans by the availability of nitrogen
has formed the basis of the conceptual model for new and regenerated production,
models of carbon flux, and interpretation of remote sensing data. Molecular
genetic approaches have provided information on new organisms involved in
nitrogen cycling, in particular nitrogen fixation, but also on the modes of
inorganic nitrogen metabolism by Synechococcus and Prochlorococcus.
Information from genomes and molecular interrogation of the marine environment
has provided tools that can be deployed on remote instrumentation to provide
biological information coincident with physical chemical data to help elucidate
the connections between biology, chemistry and physics in determining carbon
fluxes in the ocean.
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