The impact of oceanic microbial communities on marine biogeochemistry now and in the future

The overarching goal of the proposed research program is aimed at understanding the response of the microbial community (collectively phytoplankton and other microbes) to increasing seawater temperature and decreasing nutrient inventory and how this will affect primary productivity in the Northwest Atlantic (NWA) and other under-sampled regions of the world's ocean. A multi-pronged approach engages established microbial observatories in the NWA, including weekly to annual sampling of in-shore stations (Bedford Basin), spring and fall missions on the Scotian Shelf (in collaboration with DFO), and yearly sampling in the Labrador Sea. The research builds on established international collaborations (GEOMAR, WHOI) and develops new ones (AWI, IUEM, CIIMAR), thereby linking to international time-series and ensuring interoperability of the observations. Extending the research on microbial community structure and function within the context of the NWA, the PI will transfer her expertise to the study of microbial communities associated with the aquaculture industry. The proposed research builds on previous work on diazotrophs and nitrogen fixation as well as their associated microbial communities. In recent years, it has become clear that non-photosynthetic microbes make up the bulk of the diazotroph diversity. It is important to assess the contribution and function of the non-photosynthetic diazotrophs in the context of their global cell metabolism and within their characteristic microbial community, in addition to their ability to fix nitrogen. In a recent breakthrough in the PI's laboratory, the isolation of a widely distributed heterotrophic diazotroph has led to characterization of the production of polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB) linked to the diazotrophic lifestyle, a compound used in the synthesis of biodegradable plastic. Further studies will use transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic approaches to elucidate the metabolism of this microorganism. The proposed research will rely on established time-series platforms to carry out the following objectives: i) With the microbial observatory in the NWA, establish the current baseline and associated variability in the microbial community to characterize strategic locations in the NWA (Coastal embayment, Scotian Shelf, and Labrador Sea). This will serve to explore how microbial community composition and metabolic function respond to changes in environmental conditions. ii) Perform manipulative experiments on natural microbial communities and new microbial isolates, including N2-fixing microbes (diazotrophs), from the Scotian Shelf and the NWA. iii) Transfer the developed approaches and the knowledge gained from objectives (i) and (ii) to specific aquaculture settings in order to compare and contrast microbial communities of salmon aquaculture farms and those of the surrounding coastal areas including the Scotian Shelf.