Author: admin

Contact

René Groben

Project Manager

rene.groben@matis.is

International agreements recognize the importance of cooperative scientific research to conserve and promote sustainable development of a shared Atlantic Ocean. In 2022, the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance Declaration was signed. The All-Atlantic Declaration continues and extends relations forged by the Galway Statement on Atlantic Ocean Cooperation and the Belém Statement on Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Cooperation. These efforts are consistent with programs, actions, and aims of the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. In preparation for implementation of the All-Atlantic Declaration, members of the Marine Microbiome Working Group and the Marine Biotechnology Initiative for the Atlantic under the Galway and Belém Statements respectively, joined forces to call for cooperation across the Atlantic to increase marine microbiome and biotechnology research to promote ocean health and a sustainable bioeconomy. This article reviews the goals of the marine microbiome and biotechnology initiatives under the Galway and Belém Statements and outlines an approach to implement those goals under the All-Atlantic Declaration through a Blue Biotech and Marine Microbiome (BBAMM) collaboration.

Contact

René Groben

Project Manager

rene.groben@matis.is

Marine microorganisms contribute to the health of the global ocean by supporting the marine food web and regulating biogeochemical cycles. Assessing marine microbial diversity is a crucial step towards understanding the global ocean. The waters surrounding Iceland are a complex environment where relatively warm salty waters from the Atlantic cool down and sink down to the deep. Microbial studies in this area have focused on photosynthetic micro- and nanoplankton mainly using microscopy and chlorophyll measurements. However, the diversity and function of the bacterial and archaeal picoplankton remains unknown. Here, we used a co-assembly approach supported by a marine mock community to reconstruct metagenome-assembled genomes (MAGs) from 31 metagenomes from the sea surface and seafloor of four oceanographic sampling stations sampled between 2015 and 2018. The resulting 219 MAGs include 191 bacterial, 26 archaeal and two eukaryotic MAGs to bridge the gap in our current knowledge of the global marine microbiome.

Contact

René Groben

Project Manager

rene.groben@matis.is

The North Atlantic Ocean surrounds Iceland, influencing its climate and hosting a rich ecosystem that provides the Icelandic nation with economically valuable marine species. The basis of the Icelandic marine ecosystem consists of communities of diverse microorganisms including bacteria, archaea, and unicellular eukaryotes. While the primary production of Icelandic waters has been monitored since the 50s, there is limited knowledge of the taxonomic and metabolic diversity of the marine microorganisms in Icelandic waters based on molecular techniques. In this study, we conducted annual sampling at four hydrographic stations over several years to characterize marine microbial communities and their metabolic potential. Using 16S ribosomal RNA gene amplicon sequencing and metagenomics, we resolved the microbial community composition on the North and South Shelves of Iceland, analyzed its evolution from 2011 to 2018, identified frequently occurring taxa, and predicted their potential metabolism. The results showed correlations between the marine microbial community profiles and the water masses in spring, between the North and South Shelves of Iceland. The differences in marine microbial diversity appear to be linked to the average seawater temperature in the mixed surface layer at each sampling station which also constrains the relative abundance of photosynthetic microorganisms. This study sets a baseline for the marine microbial diversity in Icelandic marine waters and identified three photosynthetic microorganisms – the cyanobacteria Synechococcus and two members of the Chlorophyta clade – as valuable indicator species for future monitoring, as well as for application in ecosystem modeling in context with research on climate change.

Contact

René Groben

Project Manager

rene.groben@matis.is

Phytoplankton play a crucial role in the marine food web and are sensitive indicators of environmental change. Iceland is at the center of a contrasting hydrography, with cold Arctic water coming in from the north and warmer Atlantic water from the south, making this geographical location very sensitive to climate change. We used DNA metabarcoding to determine the biogeography of phytoplankton in this area of accelerating change. Seawater samples were collected in spring (2012–2018), summer (2017) and winter (2018) together with corresponding physico-chemical metadata around Iceland. Amplicon sequencing of the V4 region of the 18S rRNA gene indicates that eukaryotic phytoplankton community composition is different between the northern and southern water masses, with some genera completely absent from Polar Water masses. Emilia was more dominant in the Atlantic-influenced waters and in summer, and Phaeocystis was more dominant in the colder, northern waters and in winter. The Chlorophyta picophytoplankton genus, Micromonas, was similarly dominant to the dominant diatom genus, Chaetoceros. This study presents an extensive dataset which can be linked with other 18s rRNA datasets for further investigation into the diversity and biogeography of marine protists in the North Atlantic.