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Research project

Shortcuts in the Oceanic Nitrogen Cycle: Fluxes & Microbial Pathways of Nitrogen Remineralisation in the Ocean’s Twilight Zone

Staff

Lead researchers

Professor Phyllis Lam

Professor

Research interests

  • Dr. Lam's research interest lies in the functional roles of microorganisms in biogeochemical cycling, particularly the nitrogen and carbon cycles, in diverse marine and aquatic systems. In collaboration with researchers inside and outside the university, her work integrates state-of-the-art molecular ecological techniques, stable isotopic analyses, process rate measurements, hypothesis-driven experimentation and modelling, to disentangle complex microbial interactions and their impacts on biogeochemical environments especially in the context of global change.
  • Current research topics include:
  • Shortcuts in the nitrogen cycle – novel pathways and microbial players for nitrogen remineralisation in the ocean’s twilight zoneMicrobial carbon remineralisation pathways and fluxes in the mesopelagic oceanUsing proteomics tools to disentangle active microbial nitrogen and carbon cycling processes in oceanic oxygen minimum zonesImportance of particle-associated microeukaryotes on the efficiency of oceanic biological carbon pumpMicrobial production and consumption pathways of greenhouse gases
Connect with Phyllis

Email: P.Lam@southampton.ac.uk

Other researchers

Professor Paul Skipp

Professor of Proteomics
Connect with Paul

Email: pjss@soton.ac.uk

Professor Tom Bibby

Professor of Biological Oceanography

Research interests

  • (1) The role of photosynthetic microbes in global biogeochemical cycles(2) The use of photosynthetic microbes for sustainable products
Connect with Tom

Email: tsb@soton.ac.uk

Research outputs

Adaptability as the key to success for the ubiquitous marine nitrite oxidizer Nitrococcus
Jessika Füssel, Sebastian Lücker, Pelin Yilmaz, Boris Nowka, Maartje A.H.J. van Kessel, Patric Bourceau, Philipp F. Hach, Sten Littmann, Jasmine Berg, Eva Spieck, Holger Daims, Marcel M.M. Kuypers & Phyllis Lam, 2017, Science Advances, 3(11)
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1700807
Type: article