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361475-191001-021000
21-NGI4-06
N/A
10/1/2021
2026-9-30 0:0:0
Active
$149,139.00
Characterizing the Biodiversity and Variability of the Biological Carbon Pump in the Northern Gulf of Mexico
Thompson
Luke
MSU
EM-DM-CE
OAR
The ocean’s biological carbon pump (BCP) helps modulate the Earth’s climate. To understand the biodiversity and variability of the BCP and its relation to carbon cycling, experts in ‘omics, biogeochemistry, and paleoceanography research are combining eDNA with emergent observing technologies (such as BGC-Argo) and paleoclimate archives. During the Gulf of Mexico Ecosystems and Carbon Cycle 4 (GOMECC-4) cruises, they will deploy a moored sediment trap at the base of the euphotic zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico to collect particulate fluxes and analyze for biodiversity and contributions to the BCP. They will perform amplicon metabarcoding of specific gene regions (e.g., 16S for microbes and 12S rRNA fish) for a range of organisms (bacteria, protists, metazoans, and fish) and compare eRNA with DNA signals for insight into particle-associated trophic activities. Additionally, they will compare the results of a traditional analysis of foraminifera with a targeted eDNA study of foraminiferal biodiversity. This effort will establish and facilitate future best practices for eDNA sampling and may contribute to modeling carbon and nutrient export and cycling as well as developing biological proxies to characterize the strength and efficiency of the BCP.
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