Project description:<p>Organic carbon in seawater plays a significant role in the global carbon cycle. The concentration and composition of dissolved organic carbon, operationally defined in this project as organic carbon that passes through a 0.2 µm filter, reflect the actions of the biological community and chemical reactions that occur in seawater. Here, we repeatedly sampled the oligotrophic northwest Sargasso Sea in the vicinity of the Bermuda Atlantic Time-Series Study site (BATS) to quantitatively follow select known compounds within the pool of dissolved organic matter in the upper 1000 meters of the water column over a four-year period. Metabolite concentrations revealed patterns with depth and time with most metabolites showing surface enrichment and lower concentrations with depth. Select metabolites had a pattern of increased and decreased concentrations throughout the year, which was observed in each of the years sampled. Vitamins, including pantothenic acid, biotin, and riboflavin, presented annual increases in the winter period when mixed layer depths are deepest. Light-sensitive riboflavin also showed significant decreases during daylight hours under diel sampling. The metabolites examined in this study are all components of central carbon metabolism. By examining these metabolites at finer resolution and in a relatively long time series, we have clues on microbial actions in marine systems, data which are fundamental to understanding the chemical response of marine systems to future changes in climate.</p>
Project description:An Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) and large volume underwater pumps were used to collect microbial biomass from offshore waters of the Sargasso Sea, from surface waters and into the deep ocean. Seawater collection was performed along a transect in the western North Atlantic Ocean beginning near Bermuda and ending off the coast of Massachusetts, capturing metabolic signatures from oligotrophic, continental margin, and productive coastal ecosystems.
Project description:<p>Untargeted features from the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site collected during the time period spanning 2016 to 2019. Metabolites were sampled from surface seawater to 1000 m deep and throughout the year. Dissolved organic matter extracts were analyzed in positive and negative ion mode with an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography system (Vanquish UHPLC, Thermo Scientific) coupled with an Orbitrap Fusion Lumos Tribid mass spectrometer.</p>
Project description:Ammonia oxidizer community structure were examined in a depth profile from 20 to 2000 m at the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study using a functional gene microarray to look at amoA diversity
Project description:This project characterizes the metabolic consequences of the daily physiological rhythms and diel vertical migration for the model subtropical copepod, Pleuromamma xiphias. P. xiphias were collected near the Bermuda Atlantic Time Series in plankton tows at different times of day, representing different parts of their daily vertical migration. Single copepods were isolated from the tows and flash-frozen for proteomics analysis.