PRINCIPAL 

 INVESTIGATOR(S) 



Paul J. Kemp 



Oceanographic and Atmospheric Sciences Division 



Building 318 



Brookhaven National Laboratory 



Upton, NY 11973 



PROJECT TITLE 



MEASUREMENT OF MARINE MICROBIAL GROWTH. 

 MICROBIAL PROCESSES IN COASTAL MARINE SYSTEMS 



AMOUNT OF FUNDING FY 1994: $432 K 



SUMMARY OF GOALS 



Carbon cycle: The best overall approach to carbon cycling is biogeochemical, e.g. oxygen and 

 DIC measurements. Within that framework, predictive capacity for individual component 

 processes has to be developed to model or extrapolate to changed conditions in the future. 

 Predictive capacity for processes cannot be developed from climatologies, which are all that are 

 available for bacterial process measurements. High-resolution measurements of bacterial 

 processes must be obtained, at a level relevant to the metabolic capacity of bacteria to respond 

 to environmental conditions. As a first cut, this means bacterial taxa or taxon- crossing functional 

 groups (whichever reflects the distribution of metabolic capabilities better). Growth rate is a 

 reasonable first approximation of the activity of specific taxa/functional groups, although later 

 work will clearly need to shift to gene- expression approaches. 



Goals: Develop improved capability to measure bacterial growth. Develop mechanistic and 

 predictive understanding of environmental factors controlling bacterial growth at molecular/ 

 metabolic level. 



SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL SAMPLING SCALES 



Frequency of sampling/sample throughput: Sampling pace is not limiting and samples 

 are effectively immortal in storage. Sample processing is shore-based, currently at about 15 

 samples/week/person. The image analysis system is expected to double sample throughput 

 (30/week/person). 



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