Bigelow Café Scientifique: Looking Inside the Ocean’s Microbial Black Box

East Boothbay, Maine -  Plankton biogeochemist and senior research scientist Dr. Mike Lomas will lead Bigelow Laboratory’s July 9 Café Scientifique conversation, titled Translating the Ocean’s Little Black Box: How Phytoplankton Diversity Controls Ocean Biochemistry, beginning at 6 p.m. in the Boothbay Harbor Opera House at 86 Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor. Lomas will discuss recent findings about the distribution of immense global populations of cyanobacteria, among the smallest single-celled photosynthetic microbes in the ocean, and how these microscopic life forms affect the abundance and productivity of the world’s marine ecosystems. This is the second of nine Café Scientifique events scheduled for this summer.

“Cyanobacteria now dominate in 60% of the world’s surface ocean,” said Lomas. “Projections of changes in sea surface temperature resulting from increased concentration of greenhouse gases that are predicted to occur this century show significant expansion of these populations toward higher latitudes, meaning that oceanic microbial communities will experience complex changes, with large impacts on ocean ecosystems and biogeochemical cycles.”

Lomas’s global models are based on the combined effort of 35 years of research cruises and over 35,000 separate observations from all major ocean regions, including the eastern and western Pacific, southern Atlantic, and southern Indian oceans.

Prior to joining Bigelow Laboratory last fall, Lomas  was a scientist for over ten years at the Bermuda Institute for Ocean Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in Biological Oceanography from the University of Maryland.

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences is an independent, non-profit center for global ocean research, ocean science education, and technology transfer.  A recognized leader in Maine's emerging innovation economy, the Laboratory’s research ranges from microbial oceanography to the large-scale processes that drive ocean systems and global environmental conditions. The Laboratory’s Café Scientifique talks are free and open to the public, with beer, wine, and sodas available for purchase. The complete 2013 summer Café Scientifique program is available on the Laboratory’s website (www.bigelow.org).

Photo: Dr. Mike Lomas in the Bigelow Phytoplankton Ecology and Biogeochemistry Laboratory. Photo by Robert Mitchell.