Sara Ferrón

Air–Water Fluxes of N2O and CH4 during Microalgae (Staurosira sp.) Cultivation in an Open Raceway Pond

The industrial-scale production of biofuels from cultivated microalgae has gained considerable interest in the last several decades. While the climate benefits of microalgae cultivation that result from the capture of atmospheric CO(2) are known, the counteracting effect from the potential emission of other greenhouse gases has not been well quantified. Here, we report the results of a study conducted at an industrial pilot facility in Hawaii to determine the air-water fluxes of N(2)O and CH(4) from open raceway ponds used to grow the marine diatom Staurosira sp. as a feedstock for biofuel. Dissolved O(2), CH(4), and N(2)O concentrations were measured over a 24 h cycle. During this time, four SF(6) tracer release experiments were conducted to quantify gas transfer velocities in the ponds, and these were then used to calculate air-water fluxes. Our results show that pond waters were consistently supersaturated with CH(4) (up to 725%) resulting in an average emission of 19.9 ± 5.6 μmol CH(4) m(-2) d(-1). Upon NO(3)(-) depletion, the pond shifted from being a source to being a sink of N(2)O, with an overall net uptake during the experimental period of 3.4 ± 3.5 μmol N(2)O m(-2) d(-1). The air-water fluxes of N(2)O and CH(4) expressed as CO(2) equivalents of global warming potential were 2 orders of magnitude smaller than the overall CO(2) uptake by the microalgae.

Metabolic balance in the mixed layer of the oligotrophic North Pacific Ocean from diel changes in O2/Ar saturation ratios

In situ measurements were made to determine oxygen (O2) metabolic balance in the upper oligotrophic ocean from diel changes in O2 to argon (Ar) ratios. The study took place during 13–24 March 2014, at the Hawaii Ocean Time-series Station ALOHA (A Long-term Oligotrophic Habitat Assessment), in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre. Microbial community respiration and gross O2 production, estimated from in situ diel changes in O2/Ar saturation, agreed well with those calculated using other independent methods. Net oxygen production (NOP), estimated from in situ diel changes in O2/Ar saturation, showed large day-to-day variability. However, when averaged over the entire observational period, mean diel NOP was in relatively good agreement with the estimated mean steady state NOP (9.2 ± 9.3 mmol O2 m−2 d−1 compared to 11.7 ± 1.1 mmol O2 m−2 d−1, respectively).

Coordinated regulation of growth, activity and transcription in natural populations of the unicellular nitrogen-fixing cyanobacterium Crocosphaera

The temporal dynamics of phytoplankton growth and activity have large impacts on fluxes of matter and energy, yet obtaining in situ metabolic measurements of sufficient resolution for even dominant microorganisms remains a considerable challenge. We performed Lagrangian diel sampling with synoptic measurements of population abundances, dinitrogen (N2) fixation, mortality, productivity, export and transcription in a bloom of Crocosphaera over eight days in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG). Quantitative transcriptomic analyses revealed clear diel oscillations in transcript abundances for 34% of Crocosphaera genes identified, reflecting a systematic progression of gene expression in diverse metabolic pathways. Significant time-lagged correspondence was evident between nifH transcript abundance and maximal N2 fixation, as well as sepF transcript abundance and cell division, demonstrating the utility of transcriptomics to predict the occurrence and timing of physiological and biogeochemical processes in natural populations. Indirect estimates of carbon fixation by Crocosphaera were equivalent to 11% of net community production, suggesting that under bloom conditions this diazotroph has a considerable impact on the wider carbon cycle. Our cross-scale synthesis of molecular, population and community-wide data underscores the tightly coordinated in situ metabolism of the keystone N2-fixing cyanobacterium Crocosphaera, as well as the broader ecosystem-wide implications of its activities.

Short-term variability in euphotic zone biogeochemistry and primary productivity at Station ALOHA: A case study of summer 2012

Time-series observations are critical to understand the structure, function, and dynamics of marine ecosystems. The Hawaii Ocean Time-series program has maintained near-monthly sampling at Station ...

Isolation and Characterization of Bacteria That Degrade Phosphonates in Marine Dissolved Organic Matter

Semi-labile dissolved organic matter (DOM) accumulates in surface waters of the oligotrophic ocean gyres and turns over on seasonal to annual timescales. This reservoir of DOM represents an important source of carbon, energy, and nutrients to marine microbial communities but the identity of the microorganisms and the biochemical pathways underlying the cycling of DOM remain largely uncharacterized. In this study we describe bacteria isolated from the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre (NPSG) near Hawaii that are able to degrade phosphonates associated with high molecular weight dissolved organic matter (HMWDOM), which represents a large fraction of semi-labile DOM. We amended dilution-to-extinction cultures with HMWDOM collected from NPSG surface waters and with purified HMWDOM enriched with polysaccharides bearing alkylphosphonate esters. The HMWDOM-amended cultures were enriched in Roseobacter isolates closely related to Sulfitobacter and close relatives of hydrocarbon-degrading bacteria of the Oceanospirillaceae family, many of which encoded phosphonate degradation pathways. Sulfitobacter cultures encoding C-P lyase were able to catabolize methylphosphonate and 2-hydroxyethylphosphonate, as well as the esters of these phosphonates found in native HMWDOM polysaccharides to acquire phosphorus while producing methane and ethylene, respectively. Conversely, growth of these isolates on HMWDOM polysaccharides as carbon source did not support robust increases in cell yields, suggesting that the constituent carbohydrates in HMWDOM were not readily available to these individual isolates. We postulate that the complete remineralization of HMWDOM polysaccharides requires more complex microbial inter-species interactions. The degradation of phosphonate esters and other common substitutions in marine polysaccharides may be key steps in the turnover of marine DOM.

On Factors Influencing Air‐Water Gas Exchange in Emergent Wetlands

Knowledge of gas exchange in wetlands is important in order to determine fluxes of climatically and biogeochemically important trace gases and to conduct mass balances for metabolism studies. Very few studies have been conducted to quantify gas transfer velocities in wetlands, and many wind speed/gas exchange parameterizations used in oceanographic or limnological settings are inappropriate under conditions found in wetlands. Here six measurements of gas transfer velocities are made with SF6 tracer release experiments in three different years in the Everglades, a subtropical peatland with surface water flowing through emergent vegetation. The experiments were conducted under different flow conditions and with different amounts of emergent vegetation to determine the influence of wind, rain, water flow, waterside thermal convection, and vegetation on air-water gas exchange in wetlands. Measured gas transfer velocities under the different conditions ranged from 1.1 cm h 1 during baseline conditions to 3.2 cm h 1 when rain and water flow rates were high. Commonly used wind speed/gas exchange relationships would overestimate the gas transfer velocity by a factor of 1.2 to 6.8. Gas exchange due to thermal convection was relatively constant and accounted for 14 to 51% of the total measured gas exchange. Differences in rain and water flow among the different years were responsible for the variability in gas exchange, with flow accounting for 37 to 77% of the gas exchange, and rain responsible for up to 40%.