Processes and Players in Arctic Marine Pelagic Food Webs - Biogeochemistry, Environment and Climate

Change

PIs: Gunnar Bratbak (UiB) and Aud Larsen (Uni Research) CoPIs: Bente Edvardsen (UiO), Richard GJ Bellerby (NIVA), Kriss Rokkan Iversen

(SALT)

NFR-funded, 4 yrs

P

THE ARCTIC FOOD CHAIN

Nutrient (DIN, DIP),

carbon (CO2, DOC)

chemistry

Primary production to harvestable

resources

Export to the

ocean’s interior

..and the central role of the

microbes

80N

20E

Field campaigns: • Diversity and abundances (mesozooplankton –

virus) + gene expression (microbes) • Bulk measurements:

Chl a, Elemental composition • Chemistry:

Mineral nutrients, DOC/DOM; Inorganic carbon chemistry

• Rates: Primary and secondary production, growth and grazing

Annual cycle NW Svalbard

(2015)

Young Sound, East-Greenland

(June-October 2015)

P Core Questions: “Who they are”, “What they do”, “How they interact” and “How they respond to environmental change”

• Structure, function and diversity -

microbial community, annual cycle

• Carbon flow - microbial food webs -

regulation, production and consumption

- DOC and CO2.

• Refine microbial food web models

• Data for parameterization of marine

biogeochemical models -improved

climate projections.

Activities

Field campaigns

“Annual cycle” (pelagic)

NW Svalbard, different

water masses (2015)

Young Sound, Greenland

(2015)

SIMCO north of

Spitzbergen (2016) (+

samples from N-ICE

2015, NPI)

Field experiment

Mesocosms

– Svalbard, June 2015

Protists (eukaryotes), co-PI B Edvardsen UiO:

Molecular approach: DNA-Sequencing: Season main driver for community structure – more important than water

masses; Novel lineages) (Gene expression (e.g. of enzymes involved in the production and consumption of DOC and CO2))

Microscopy (coccolithophores): Novel species, bi-polar species, endemic for Arctic-species (5 published papers + Master thesis ) Frame of reference for polar coccolithophores Distribution of coccolithophores around Svalbard

Cultures UPMC - Sorbonne University - Banyuls/Roscoff – PHYTOPOL: "Adaptation of phytoplankton

to polar regions: survival strategies during the arctic winter" UiO - new project proposals (TaxMArc)

Status: Structure, function and diversity microbial communities, NW Spitzbergen

Photos by: Mikal Heldal, Egil S. Erichsen & Sesilie F. Tverberg

Prokaryotes (Bacteria, Archae), co-PI L Øvreås UiB:

Molecular approach - whole community: Sequencing DNA (history) and RNA (snapshot active community) - simultaneously from same sample:

16S-DNA: A year-round study of pelagic microbial diversity

down through the dark Arctic Ocean depths (B Wilson et al)

DNA/RNA: One specific group: Thaumarcheota (important global C and N cycles): Distribution throughout the year + with water masses (O Muller et al)

Status: Structure, function and diversity microbial communities, NW Spitzbergen

Phototrophic prokaryotes:

Cell distribution, molecular diversity, growth/loss: Synechococcus in the Atlantic

gateway to the Arctic Ocean

Virus: co-PI RA Sandaa, UiB:

Molecular approach: Sequencing DNA and RNA viruses - sequences ready – assembling these days (collaboration - bioinformatics Virus-X)

Structure, function and diversity microbial communities, NW Spitzbergen

Hydrography:

Physical and Biogeochemical Hydrography of the Fram Strait Branch (seasonality, inflow

to AO) (Randelhof A et al):

Conductivity-temperature-depth (CTD) profiles, Inorganic nutrients, Chlorophyll-a concentration,

fCO2, PAR

Chemistry (co-PI R Bellerby (NIVA):

[µP] OA data fill holes into broadscale database – useful for future modelling work

NCP and stoichiometry from Kongsfjorden

Combined – under construction – e.g:

Seuthe, Reigstad et al.: Production and fate of organic carbon in the Atlantic gateway to

the Arctic Ocean

Slagstad, Seuthe, Vernet, Thingstad, Ellingsen et al. Microbial modeling – implications for

ecosystem C-cycling

Lund Paulsen – Young Sound (East Greenland): virus-mesozooplankton, chemistry (organic

carbon), physics

Status: Other (chemistry, carbon-flow, models)

Status: Mesocosm experiment in Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard (carbon and matter-flow, microbial model refinement)

Low mesozoo high h-

bact concentratin

High mesozoo lower h-

bact concentrations

Day No

0 2 4 6 8 10 12

Cell

s 1

06 m

L-1

0

2

4

6

8

10

Cell

s 1

06 m

L-1

0

2

4

6

8

10

0C

0.5C

1C

2C

3C

H-Bacteria in HIGH mesozoo tanks

(T=2, 4, 6, 8, 10)

H-Bacteria in LOW mesozoo tanks

(T=1, 3, 5, 7, 9)

HETEROTROPHIC

BACTERIA

Related/collaborative projects Institution(s) Source Acronym

UiT NFR Carbon Bridge

Aarhus Universitet

DANCEA, Carlsberg Found., ARC

CAMPING

UiB NFR Arctic Soil

UiB NFR FunCab

UiB EU Virus-X:

NTNU EU OceanCertain

NPI NFR Boom or Burst (N-ICE)

UPMC-Sorbonne University

ANR PHYTOPOL

Future: diverse AeN, MOSAIC, AQUACOSM

4 parallell sessions:

I Bridging physical and biological processes in the Arctic Ocean

II Pushing back the Frontiers: New approaches, new technologies, and new insights

III Future Fisheries

IV Managing risk in policymaking and law

http://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/science/call-for-papers

Session I: organised as a collaboration between the three research project

CarbonBridge (UiT), µPolar (UiB/UniR) and Arctic in Rapid Transition (GEOMAR).

Open for everyone interested

Common plenary sessions in the morning.

Science part: 25-27 January

2017

http://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/126-science-2017/514-part-i-processeshttp://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/126-science-2017/513-part-ii-pushing-frontiershttp://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/126-science-2017/512-part-iii-future-fisherieshttp://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/126-science-2017/516-part-iv-managing-riskhttp://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/science/call-for-papershttp://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/science/call-for-papershttp://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/science/call-for-papershttp://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/science/call-for-papershttp://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/science/call-for-papershttp://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/science/call-for-papershttp://www.arcticfrontiers.com/2017-conference/science/call-for-papers

Outreach

- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nqPAYJ-0s8

- Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/polarmicrobes/

- Book chapter: «Doing Everything Everywhere All the Time – The story about those that were thought to be unimportant in the Arctic Ocean” In

Press

Facebook

Blog

Schrødingers katt-

NRK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nqPAYJ-0s8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nqPAYJ-0s8https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nqPAYJ-0s8https://www.instagram.com/polarmicrobes/