BIOS-SCOPE

BIOS-SCOPE II - An interdisciplinary Exploration of Microbial Oceanography in the North Atlantic Subtropical Gyre BIOS-SCOPE research brings a unique set of investigative skills and talents together to study the seasonally oligotrophic Sargasso Sea. The BIOS-SCOPE team mission is to advance an understanding of ocean food web sources, sinks and transformations of dissolved and particulate organic matter in the context of defining characteristics of the seasonally oligotrophic Sargasso Sea. The location of the BIOS-SCOPE study, the Bermuda Atlantic Time-series Study (BATS) site, experiences vigorous physical mixing in winter / spring followed by quiescent and stratified periods in the summer / early fall that results in both spring phytoplankton blooms and extremely low-nutrient surface conditions in each annual cycle. The dramatic seasonality of BATS makes it an excellent site for exploring features of biogeochemistry related to ocean mixing and stratification, and for exploring the long-term consequences of ocean surface warming. This study site supports the longest running open ocean metagenomics time-series in oceanography northwestern Sargasso Sea. Advances in understanding organism-organism and organism-organic compound interactions that were made in the first 5 years of the program are described in detail in the companion BIOS-SCOPE project report. These discoveries were founded on technological advances in sequencing, analytical chemistry and computation, and supported by the BIOS-SCOPE logistical framework, which has proven robust and responsive to changing investigative priorities. In its second phase BIOS-SCOPE is poised to apply its revised and more effectively integrated range of skills to investigate specific mechanisms of organic matter production, oxidation and transformation in both DOM and POM. We will further explore the link between biogeochemical variability, its control on phytoplankton community structure and how that affects the quality, quantity and cycling of organic matter. New metagenomic approaches will be used to further explore viral ecology in this oligotrophic system and how it controls microbial community and biogeochemical cycling. We have organized the interdisciplinary efforts of the BIOS-SCOPE investigators into three main themes that include: Theme I. Linkages between temporal variability of biological community structure and ocean biogeochemistry. Theme II. Characterization of dissolved and particulate organic matter and its relation to biological transformation. Theme III. Systems biology and evolution for the discovery and exploration of new mechanisms of organic matter oxidation and cellular interactions.