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CWR Seminars and TalksCWR Seminar : Marine Microbes in MotionDate: 13/01/2010 at 16:00:00
Venue: Blakers Lecture Room, Ground Floor, Mathematics Building, UWA
Speaker: Associate Professor Roman Stocker, department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A fundamental determinant of marine microbial ecology is motion: of microbes, of fluid, of resources. Yet, aquatic microbial ecology is often studied 'in bulk', without consideration of the appropriate spatial and temporal scales of motion. I will illustrate the broad implications of motion and motility in the microbial world using a combination of microfluidic experiments and mathematical modeling, focusing on three processes: (i) chemotaxis confers significant foraging advantage to motile bacteria; (ii) motility can be disrupted by fluid shear, causing intense cell accumulations like thin phytoplankton layers; and (iii) stirring and mixing of nutrient patches by small-scale turbulence affects microbial bioenergetics and fitness. Our results suggest that the complex interplay between motility, fluid flow and spatial resource heterogeneity can fundamentally affect microbial life in aquatic systems. This, in turn, has important repercussions on biogeochemical cycles and trophic dynamics in the Ocean.
Facilitator: Jason Antenucci
Organiser: Sarah Laborde
Student Host: tba
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