WHOI Receives $2.7M from Simons Foundation to Study Nutrients, Microbes that Fuel Ocean Food Web
Published:29 Jul.2020 Source:WHOI
The Simons Foundation has awarded Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) scientists Dan Repeta and Benjamin Van Mooy two grants totaling $2.7 million to study key processes that help fuel the health of our ocean and planet.
Repeta’s research will focus on phosphorus, iron and nitrogen, the trinity of nutrients that fuel microbial cycles in the ocean. Van Mooy’s research centers on understanding carbon and energy flow through the microbial food web. His lab uses lipidomics—the comprehensive analysis of a cell or organism’s lipid profile, to learn how ocean microbes harvest, store, and use chemical energy from light. Both research projects are focused on samples and data collected at Station ALOHA—a 6-mile radius circle in the Pacific Ocean north of Hawaii, a hub for oceanographic research projects that is yielding a remarkable collection of observations about Earth’s dynamic oceans and atmosphere.