Award: OCE-1634016

When organisms die, they produce organic carbon compounds that serve as food and energy for surviving living organisms. In seawater, the compounds are known to be varied and complicated but we lack a good understanding of how mortality processes define the types and concentrations of compounds that are produced in seawater. This project considered how carbon compounds change in the presence of two types of mortality: grazing by larger organisms and death due to viruses found inside cells. Our results reveal that reducing the number of viruses in seawater caused the largest change in the concentration of carbon compounds. However, small changes were observed under conditions with a reduced number of grazers. Beyond the realm of research, the project also contributed to the broader community. A postdoctoral investigator worked on this project for two years and received training on the methods used to define the types and concentrations of organic carbon found in seawater. A junior technician in the Kujawinski laboratory trained a new graduate student on these same methods. This benefited both the student and the technician because the student learned new methods while the technician gained experience in training new scientists. The lab also participated twice in a Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School in Ghana, which is a week-long summer school designed to introduce people in Ghana to oceanographic research, tools, and techniques. Last Modified: 11/18/2021 Submitted by: Elizabeth B Kujawinski