Welcome to the Microbial Oceanography Lab at the University of Vienna

Marine microbes are uniquely important to life and form the major pillars of the biosphere. Their unique metabolisms allow marine microbes to carry out many steps of the biogeochemical cycles that other organisms are unable to complete.

Microbial oceanography focuses on deciphering the metabolic activity of Bacteria and Archaea thriving in the open ocean and relating their community composition to the biogeochemical fluxes in the water masses. This requires an interdisciplinary approach linking microbial and molecular ecology to biogeochemistry and to large scale water mass transport studied in physical oceanography.

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Our main focus is the microbial oceanography of the deep ocean where the prokaryotic activity is relatively low compared to the euphotic zone. The deep ocean comprises about 70% of the total ocean volume and hence deep-water microbes mediate a substantial fraction of the biogeochemical cycles with thus far unknown metabolic pathways. We develop and improve available methods in molecular biology and biogeochemistry to make them usable in the most oligotrophic parts of the ocean. Then the information from biology and biogeochemistry is linked for a better understanding of how the microbial community might work in the dark ocean.

News

31.07.2024
 

Metaproteomic analysis decodes trophic interactions of microorganisms in the dark ocean

Publication
02.07.2024
 

Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel (Kristin Bergauer Lab) in collaboration with the Microbial Oceanography Unit of the University of Vienna...

News
15.05.2024
 

Substrate uptake patterns shape niche separation in marine prokaryotic microbiome

Publication
25.04.2024
 

We greatly appreciate all the invited speakers for sharing their inspiring work and unveiling the ocean's charm from different perspectives!

News
11.04.2024
 

Three of the 12 ERC Advanced Grants for Austrian research projects have been awarded to professors at the Faculty of Life Sciences! Gerhard Herndl,...

News
09.04.2024
 

Microbial Oceanography Mini Symposium: 17 April 2024 & 19 April 2024 in SE 3.1

Events

Video Testimonials

Maria Pinto, PhD Student

Chie Amano, PostDoc

Federico Baltar, Assistant Professor