Abstract

The global ocean is an integrated living system where energy and matter transformations are governed by interdependent physical, chemical and biotic processes. Although the fundamentals of ocean physics and chemistry are well established, comprehensive approaches to describing and interpreting oceanic microbial diversity and processes are only now emerging. In particular, the application of genomics to problems in microbial oceanography is significantly expanding our understanding of marine microbial evolution, metabolism and ecology. Integration of these new genome-enabled insights into the broader framework of ocean science represents one of the great contemporary challenges for microbial oceanographers.

1. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering & Division of Biological Engineering, 48-427 Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA.
2. School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA.

Correspondence to: Edward F. DeLong¹ Email: delong@mit.edu

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