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HGF MPG Joint Research Group for Deep-Sea Ecology and Technology

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Overview

Since 1.12.2008, the MPI Microbial Habitat group and the AWI Deep-Sea Research group form the Helmholtz - Max Planck Joint Research Group for Deep-Sea Ecology and Technology. Additional information on the work of the group situated at the AWI can be found here.

The microbial habitat describes the physical location and type of environment in which a population of microorganisms live. Hence, this research group studies the physical, chemical, geological hydrological, and biological characteristics of distinct microbial habitats. The goal of our research is to understand structure and change of microbial ecosystems, the formation of niches for microbial populations, and to investigate environmental dynamics and their consequences on the occurrence, biodiversity, and distribution of microbial populations.

The uniting topics to all researchers in the group is to obtain 1) “true” quantitative insight to ecosystem structure, dynamics, and biogeochemical fluxes, based on in situ measurements, and 2) insight into the related variations in microbial biodiversity on relevant spatial and temporal scales. The development of novel instrumentation for in situ studies of submarine ecosystems, ranging from coastal sands, reefs, continental margins, and polar waters to hydrothermal vents, enables us in collaboration with the Microsensor group to improve the quantification of transport and reaction, which are dominant factors structuring microbial habitats.

Furthermore, we link our in situ biogeochemistry and biodiversity studies closely to the investigation of microbial function in the respective habitats, in collaboration with the department of Microbiology and Molecular Ecology.

 

Expeditions

Ice Cores
© MPIMM/J. Rapp

Scientists taking ice cores during a research expedition in the Arctic. Every year, members of our group are going on research expeditions and sampling campaigns around the globe. The destinations range from sandy coastal regions, over warm and cold water corals, to the deep-sea floor at several thousand meters water depth.

Technology

Lander
© MPIMM/J. Rapp

Our in situ technology operated aboard research vessels includes landers (image), multi-corers, sediment traps, plankton nets, and ROVs. Other in situ equipment  is permanently situated at sea, usually attached to moorings reaching down the entire water column, and includes diverse sensors to monitor physical and chemical parameters of the ocean, as well as sediment traps catching and preserving sinking biotic and abiotic particles.

Research

AOM consortium
© MPIMM/V. Krukenberg

Parts of our research focus on thermophilic consortia consist of anaerobic methane-oxidizing Archaea (ANME-1; red) and bacterial partner (HotSeep-1; green). These consortia were sampled and enriched from the Guaymas Basin, Gulf of California. The cells were visualized by CARD-FISH, a standard technique in molecular ecology to identify specific groups of organisms. The micrograph was obtained with a confocal fluorescence laser scanning microscope. 

News

Latest publications

*Fadeev, E., Cardozo-Mino, M.G., *Rapp, J.Z., Bienhold, C., *Salter, I., *Salman-Carvalho, V., Molari, M., *Tegetmeyer, H.E., Buttigieg, P.L., Boetius, A. (2021) Comparison of Two 16S rRNA Primers (V3–V4 and V4–V5) for Studies of Arctic Microbial Communities. Frontiers in Microbiology 12(283). [Link]

Arnosti C, Wietz M, Brinkhoff T, Hehemann J-H, Probandt D, Zeugner L, Amann R (2021) The Biogeochemistry of Marine Polysaccharides: Sources, Inventories, and Bacterial Drivers of the Carbohydrate Cycle. Annual Review in Marine Science 13 [Link]

Kiesel, J., Bienhold, C., Wenzhöfer, F., Link, H. (2020). Variability in Benthic Ecosystem Functioning in Arctic Shelf and Deep-Sea Sediments: Assessments by Benthic Oxygen Uptake Rates and Environmental Drivers, Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, 426 [Link]

Rossel, P. E., Bienhold, C., Hehemann, L., Dittmar, T., Boetius, A.. Molecular Composition of Dissolved Organic Matter in Sediment Porewater of the Arctic Deep-Sea Observatory HAUSGARTEN (Fram Strait). [link]

*Vonnahme, T.R., Molari, M., Janssen F., Wenzhöfer, F., Haeckel, M., Titschack T., Boetius A. (2020) Effects of a deep-sea mining experiment on seafloor microbial communities and functions after 26 years. Science Advances. [link]

Hahn, Laso-Pérez, et al., Wegener (2020) “Candidatus Ethanoperedens,” a Thermophilic Genus of Archaea Mediating the Anaerobic Oxidation of Ethane [link]

Hoffmann et al. (2020) Diversity and metabolism of Woeseiales bacteria, global members of marine sediment communities [link]

Boetius (2019) Global change microbiology - big questions about small life for our future. Nature Reviews Microbiology [link]

Prizes

Rafa
Otto Hahn Medal for Ra­fael Laso Pérez # Rafael Laso Pérez (left) and Gunter Wegener (right) study the metabolism of archaea from deep-sea sediments in the field as well as in the lab. (© Tom Pingel)

For his outstanding scientific work on the role of archaea in the degradation of non-methane hydrocarbons, MPI researcher Dr. Rafael Laso Pérez is awarded the Otto Hahn Medal of the Max Planck Society.

News

Prizes

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Deep Sea Ecology and Technology Group (Habitat) @Habitat_MPI

Link:https://twitter.com/Habitat_MPI

 
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