Microbiology
Microbiology encompasses the science of the unseen organisms that are too small to be visible with the naked eye. It includes the study of viruses, bacteria, phytoplankton, protozoa, and the microscopic fungi. Together, these invisible organisms create the foundation for Earth's ecosystems. In the oceans, microbes play key roles in making available all of the key elements that life requires, such as carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, phosphorus, and iron. Microbes form the basis of the food webs that support all major fish populations, as well as whales and other marine mammals. Marine microbes may be the source of novel drugs or synthetic pathways for useful chemicals, or be able to provide a potential resource for biofuels. Some can be detrimental, causing disease outbreaks in marine animals and humans, or toxic algal blooms that produce acute poisons. Despite their importance, our knowledge of the diversity of marine microbes, or the abundance of different populations of important microorganisms, is still in its infancy. We know their numbers and diversity are vast, but we don't know how vast, or how important that vastness is to the function of ecosystems as a whole.
Researchers at Bigelow are interested in these basic microbiological questions, and are playing an integral part in answering them. This knowledge can then be applied to practical problems related to conservation and productivity of marine ecosystems, monitoring ocean health, protecting human health, forecasting the interaction and relationship between climate change and marine microbiology, and use of marine resources. Scientists at Bigelow are actively involved in studying the microbiology of trace gas emissions (Balch, Goés, Matrai); the population structure of marine microbial communities in the open ocean (Sieracki, Stepanauskas); the role of microbes in utilizing iron as an energy source and contributing to the iron cycle (Emerson); the evolution and systematics of microorganisms (Anderson, Emerson, McClellan, Stepanauskas, Wilson, and Yoon) and understanding the interplay of viruses and microbes in controlling microbial population dynamics in the ocean, and affecting the health of fish and other marine organisms utilized in aquaculture (Wharam and Wilson).