Research Seminar: Andrew Hyde

A research seminar presented by UNC-CH Department of Marine Sciences graduate student, Andrew Hyde.

Title: Life in the gradient: Investigating the changing microbial community in the Orca Basin chemocline

Abstract: Orca Basin is an anoxic hypersaline pool in the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico. The water contained in this basin has ~8x the salinity of the overlying seawater with a unique chemical composition. The density interface that results from this hypersaline water serves as a particle trap for organic matter falling through the water column. It is unknown, however, how the microbial community responds to these changes in oxygen, organic matter, and salinity. I’ll be presenting the results of the bacterial community survey our lab has done through these drastic changes in environmental parameters. We hope that understanding how the microbial community has responded to such a unique set of conditions will allow us to shed light on organic matter remineralization along other redox gradients.