A CURE for Physiological Characterization of Bacterioplankton in Liquid Culture.

Bacterial characterization is an important aspect of microbiology that includes experimentally determining growth rates, environmental conditions conducive to growth, and the types of energy sources microorganisms can use. Researchers use this information to help understand and predict an organism's ecological distribution and environmental functions. Microbiology students generally conduct bacterial characterization experiments in their coursework; however, they are frequently restricted to model organisms without ecological relevance and already well-studied physiologies.

Microbial Ecology of Oxygen Minimum Zones Amidst Ocean Deoxygenation.

Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) have substantial effects on the global ecology and biogeochemical processes of marine microbes. However, the diversity and activity of OMZ microbes and their trophic interactions are only starting to be documented, especially in regard to the potential roles of viruses and protists. OMZs have expanded over the past 60 years and are predicted to expand due to anthropogenic climate change, furthering the need to understand these regions.

Ecophysiology of the Cosmopolitan OM252 Bacterioplankton ().

Among the thousands of species that comprise marine bacterioplankton communities, most remain functionally obscure. One key cosmopolitan group in this understudied majority is the OM252 clade of . Although frequently found in sequence data and even previously cultured, the diversity, metabolic potential, physiology, and distribution of this clade has not been thoroughly investigated.