Transcript Biological Oceanography at the University of Hawaii

Biological Oceanography in the
School of Ocean and Earth
Science and Technology at the
University of Hawaii
BOD Faculty: Bienfang, Church, Drazen,
Huntley, Johnson, Karl, Kemp, Selph,
Smith, Steward, Waller, Wang, Weng
Biological Oceanography
in SOEST
Biological oceanographers seek to
understand how biology influences and
responds to the ocean habitat and
environmental variability.
Breadth of biological oceanography
research and education conducted at UH
spans subcellular to ecosystems scales,
including everything from viruses to whales.
There is enormous potential for growth in
the field, and our proximity to the sea
provides SOEST with strategic
opportunities.
Research spanning
>9 orders of magnitude…
0.1 mm
1.0 mm
Viruses
Bacteria
10 mm
100 mm
Phytoplankton
1 mm
Mycoplankton
1 cm
10 cm
1m
Zooplankton Nekton Fish
10 m
Whales
Across Diverse Ocean Habitats
Epipelagic biology and ecology
Mesopelagic biology and ecology
Bathypelagic ecology
Abyssal sediments
Corals, sponges,
benthic ecology
Q1. What are the impacts of climate change
on marine ecosystems?
Positive phase
Negative phase
PDO and MEI indices
PDO
MEI
2
0
-2
ALOHA SST (oC)
28
27
26
25
24
23
ly
22
89
91
93
95
97
99
01
03
05
# completed genomes sequenced
Q2. What is the biodiversity of the ocean and
how is it related to ecosystem function?
600
Total
Marine
500
400
300
200
100
0
95
96
97
98
99
00
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
Year
 Wealth of information emerging on ecosystem diversity
 Oceanographers need to assimilate this information to better
understand ecosystem processes such as metabolism, predator-prey
interactions, physiological tolerances, etc.
pCO2
pCO2 (µatm)
360
340
Air
320
Sea
300
280
88
pH (total scale, in situ T)
Q3. How are
humans
affecting
marine
ecosystems?
380
90
92
94
96
98
00
02
04
06
90
92
94
96
98
00
02
04
06
8.16
pH
8.14
8.12
8.10
8.08
8.06
8.04
88
Let’s have the ahi.
It’ll be extinct soon.
Marine pollution and debris
Decline in fish stocks
Invasive species in Hawaiian waters
(Myers and Worm; Nature 2003)
Q4. How do the oceans impact
human health?
Ala Wai Sewage Spill
V. vulnificus
Q5. What are the potential applications of
aquatic ecosystems and/or
organisms for biotechnolgy?
Green Alga
Hydrogen Production
Biological
oceanography
from molecular
to ecosystem
scales