Microbial biooceanography articles from across Nature Portfolio

Plasticity and evolutionary changes in phytoplankton phenotypes in the ocean can be better represented by integrating statistical and multi-trait-based numerical models which will help improve predictions of future ecosystem states and ocean carbon cycling.

Active infections of giant viruses in their marine protists hosts are tracked at single-cell resolution, showing that, despite being rare, these viruses still impact microbial population dynamics.

Identifying the metabolic interactions that underlie microbial communities is challenging. Here, the authors combine Tara Oceans -omics data with co-activity networks and genome-scale metabolic models to predict biotic interactions among planktonic prokaryotes in the upper ocean.

This study shows that a multitrophic community model jointly recapitulates diel rhythms in abundances of Prochlorococcus picocyanobacteria, as well as viral infection, viral abundances and grazer abundances. Model-data integration implies that grazing predominantly controls Prochlorococcus abundances in surface waters of the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre, despite high viral densities.

Microbial connectivity analysis of Arctic, subarctic, and temperate fjords revealed regionally distinct communities. Across regions, prokaryotes were more connected than picoeukaryotes, but their dispersal was limited by temperature barriers.

The Antarctic Polar Front separates distinct phytoplankton communities with haptophytes dominating north of the front and a more homogenous and diatom-dominated community south of the front, according to a classification analysis of 26 years of pigment data from the Southern Ocean.

Microorganisms and their activities are as integrated in climate change science as they are in the world around us, playing key roles related to the causes, impacts and perhaps even some solutions of climate change.

This Comment discusses the complexity of how ocean acidification and phosphate limitation affect phytoplankton physiologies, as well as what future research is needed to address remaining crucial questions.

Tiny phytoplankton are the base of ocean production and thus critical to carbon storage, carbon fluxes and living marine resources. Now, research suggests that the vertical migration of these organisms provides a previously under-recognized resiliency to climate warming.

A multiyear study links viral activity in the surface ocean with the habitat range of the cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus.

A virus has been found inserted into the genome of the most abundant bacteria in the oceans. Even though the virus can kill its host, the genes carried by the prophage may help these bacteria flourish around the world.