Microbes as prey
Picocyanobacteria population sizes are remarkably stable. Each day, cell division is balanced with mortality. Viruses are one known source of mortality. Likewise, single celled alga have been observed to consume cyanobacteria. Gathering evidence suggests that large gelatinous zooplankton may also be a significant source of mortality to microbes of the open ocean. However, the difficulty of studying these delicate gelatinous creatures, and their patchy distributions, leave much to be learned of their grazing rates and selectivity. We collaborate with the Sutherland Lab at the University of Oregon to measure the grazing rates and selectivity of five understudied groups of gelatinous grazers coupling SCUBA-based sampling, videography, and microbiome techniques in open-ocean ecosystems. This project is funded through NSF-OCE (Award #1851412).