Ocean Microbiology – Boreholes

Ocean Microbiology Boreholes

Ocean Drilling Rig
Microbes control our planet’s bio-geochemical cycles, including the carbon cycle which regulates our climate. To better understand these processes, scientists are trying to learn some of the secrets of microscopic life underneath the ocean floor. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

Edwards : One of the big questions that my lab is addressing right now is the microbial life below the bottom of the ocean.

Katrina Edwards is a professor of Microbiology at the University of Southern California

Edwards: And so, to do that, a lot of times we have to drill into the oceanic crust to retrieve materials and examine them for microbial life, and we also conduct experiments. Basically, what you can do using the scientific drill ship, is to drill a hole and then after the hole has been excavated, then you put in – colonization experiments is what we call them. And they’re basically little condo units for microbes to enter into and get trapped and grow and prosper. And then, we can retrieve them several years later and discover a lot about what they’re doing to the materials that we incubate down in those boreholes. So we found all sorts of interesting reactions had occurred. Different populations of bacteria had occupied the materials for different lengths of time. So it had several population changes and turnovers, and that tells us something about how the communities operate and what type of roles they’re playing, in terms of the biogeochemical cycles.

It’s been suggested that one way to control climate change would be to pump large amounts of carbon dioxide underground. Further research could tell us what the potential impacts of that process might be. We’ll hear more in future programs. Pulse of the Planet is made possible in part by the National Science Foundation and Virginia Tech, inventing the future through a hands-on approach to education and research.

Ocean Microbiology - Boreholes

Condo units for microbes?
Air Date:10/17/2016
Scientist:
Transcript:

Ocean Microbiology Boreholes

Ocean Drilling Rig
Microbes control our planet's bio-geochemical cycles, including the carbon cycle which regulates our climate. To better understand these processes, scientists are trying to learn some of the secrets of microscopic life underneath the ocean floor. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.

Edwards : One of the big questions that my lab is addressing right now is the microbial life below the bottom of the ocean.

Katrina Edwards is a professor of Microbiology at the University of Southern California

Edwards: And so, to do that, a lot of times we have to drill into the oceanic crust to retrieve materials and examine them for microbial life, and we also conduct experiments. Basically, what you can do using the scientific drill ship, is to drill a hole and then after the hole has been excavated, then you put in - colonization experiments is what we call them. And they're basically little condo units for microbes to enter into and get trapped and grow and prosper. And then, we can retrieve them several years later and discover a lot about what they're doing to the materials that we incubate down in those boreholes. So we found all sorts of interesting reactions had occurred. Different populations of bacteria had occupied the materials for different lengths of time. So it had several population changes and turnovers, and that tells us something about how the communities operate and what type of roles they're playing, in terms of the biogeochemical cycles.

It's been suggested that one way to control climate change would be to pump large amounts of carbon dioxide underground. Further research could tell us what the potential impacts of that process might be. We'll hear more in future programs. Pulse of the Planet is made possible in part by the National Science Foundation and Virginia Tech, inventing the future through a hands-on approach to education and research.