Project: US GEOTRACES GP17-OCE and GP17-ANT: Cobalt Biogeochemical Cycling and Phytoplankton Protein Biomarkers in the Pacific and Southern Oceans

NSF Award Abstract:
Dissolved metals have an important role as micronutrients that influence marine photosynthesis and the overall carbon cycle. Of these metals, cobalt is one of the scarcest elements. Cobalt has an unusual behavior in the environment in that it is strongly influenced by both nutrient uptake processes in the upper water column and scavenging removal processes in the mid-water and deep ocean. There is also growing evidence of cobalt's importance within marine biological processes where different chemical forms of cobalt have been observed to influence primary productivity. In addition, protein biomolecules bind most metals within organisms, and the study of proteins within marine microbes can provide useful information about how microbes respond to environmental influences. In this proposal, the investigator will study the biogeochemistry of cobalt and selected proteins across the South Pacific and Southern Oceans as part of the GEOTRACES GP17-OCE and GP17-ANT expeditions. GEOTRACES is a global program that studies the distribution of trace elements and isotopes. The project will support a graduate student and a postdoctoral researcher.

The distributions of dissolved and labile cobalt will be determined across the South Pacific and the Southern Ocean on these two expeditions. Moreover, microbial proteins representative of nutrient and micronutrient stresses will be measured across surface transects to compare to the distributions of metals. The Southern Ocean and Antarctica coastal regions are of interest for cobalt research because vitamin B12, which contains a cobalt atom, has been observed to influence phytoplankton growth in Antarctic polynyas due strong seasonal demand and increased glacial iron inputs. Recent data suggests that this increased B12 use by the biota may be shifting the Co biogeochemical cycle in multiple ways, and this project will explore these dynamics and compare it with historical data. Cobalt will be measured using cathodic stripping voltammetry after ultraviolet radiation to remove metal-binding ligands. Proteins will be measured by metaproteomic methods that use nanospray liquid chromatography high resolution mass spectrometry and metatranscriptomic databases. Metaproteomic results will be incorporated into the Ocean Protein Portal for broader use in research and education.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.