I study structural and functional response of microbial communities to climate change in Baltic Sea.
Structural and functional response of microbial communities to climate change in Baltic Sea
Project Goal:
The overall aim of our project is to elucidate effects of increased dissolved organic matter (DOM) on microbial community composition and to establish linkage between key microbial functional genes expression and DOM conditions.
According to climate model projections the river inflow will increase in the next coming century. The increased runoff will bring large amounts of allochthonous dissolved organic matter (Al DOM) into the sea, where this recalcitrant DOM will mix with more labile autochthonous dissolved organic matter (At DOM), leading a change of the DOM composition in the marine ecosystem. DOM, which mainly consists of organic carbon, is a fundamental energy source for microbial metabolism and is a very important driver for shaping the microbial communities in marine ecosystem. Our research will elucidate how the structure and function of the microbial communities is affected by increased dissolved organic matter in Baltic Sea.
Research area
Marine ecology