We’re biological oceanographers and biogeochemists interested in the ways that biological systems interact with their chemical and physical environment in oceanic ecosystems. Much of our work focuses on the movement of nitrogen and carbon through planktonic ecosystems, and we have a strong focus on the role of nitrogen fixation in supporting planktonic production.
At sea, we use a combination of approaches derived from biological oceanography as well as stable isotope biogeochemistry to explore the ways that planktonic organisms interact with each other and with their environment in the water column. We do a lot of our work on research vessels and collect samples of seawater, suspended particles, and zooplankton for analysis both on the ship and ashore. A month at sea will usually generate samples and data that we’ll work on for years, with lots of opportunities for shore-based students and colleagues to get involved.
We work collaboratively, both at sea and ashore, and have a number of long-standing collaborations with groups in the US and abroad. Over time, lab members have worked in tropical and subtropical waters around the world in the Atlantic, Pacific, and South China Sea. We very occasionally get to work at higher latitude, for example in the Baltic Sea, but most of our efforts have been centered on the Tropical Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico in recent years.
Nitrogen fixation experiment bottles incubating on the deck of the R/V Endeavor. Here, saltwater is pulled through plexiglass incubators and different shade 'coozies' around the bottles change light to what it would be at depth in the water column.
