Photo credit: © Stefanie Böhnke-Brandt

Marine sediments exposed to episodical hypoxia (Boknis Eck)

GEOMAR  Research  Marine Biogeochemistry  Marine Geosystems  Geomicrobiology  Boknis Eck

Impressions from a field trip to Boknis Eck with FS Littorina. Photo credits: © Stefanie Böhnke-Brandt

Boknis Eck (BE) is located in the southwestern Baltic Sea at the entrance to the Eckernförde Bay. One special characteristic of this site is the seasonal change between oxic and hypoxic / sporadic anoxic conditions in the deeper water column. This dynamic in oxygen levels makes Boknis Eck an ideal model site to study the impact of deoxygenation on microbial activity and the resulting changes in metabolic turnover rates in the natural habitat.

For this purpose, we carry out incubation experiments in the laboratory, but also use our Mini Chamber Lander to perform comparative in situ experiments. Microbiological turnover rates are monitored and molecular biological transcriptional analyses accompany our experiments. Here, our intention is to better understand how microbially mediated metabolic processes impact ecosystem functioning. The globally increasing expansion of oxygen minimum zones highlight the need for such studies, allowing better prediction of possible feedbacks and forecasting microbially mediated element cycling in the future oceans.

Incubation chamber in use on the seabed of Boknis Eck. Photo credit: © Geomicrobiology Lab, Kiel, GEOMAR

Staff

Dr. Nicole Adam-Beyer ∙ Dr. Stefanie Böhnke-Brandt ∙ Rebecca Bährle

 

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Marine Biogeochemistry
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