WARMING MICROBES MAY SHRINK SOUTHERN OCEAN CARBON SINK The amount of carbon locked away in the depths of the Southern Ocean could fall by almost 20 per cent by 2100 as warming waters lead to increased microbial activity, according to ARC-supported research at the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Science (IMAS) at the University of Tasmania. The Southern Ocean absorbs a large proportion of heat and carbon dioxide from anthropogenic emissions, with billions of tonnes of carbon locked away as phytoplankton die and sink to the ocean floor. Modelling and laboratory-based experiments have predicted that ocean microbes will become more active as the climate changes, interrupting the flow of carbon to the seafloor. For the first time, those predictions have been tested by field research in the Southern Ocean conducted by Dr Emma Cavan, supplying experimental data to improve climate modelling in the future. The research forms part of a project led by ARC Australian Laureate Fellow, Professor Philip Boyd, who is investigating how the natural microbial activity of the Southern Ocean could be utilised to mitigate against the effects of anthropogenic climate change. Research suggests that the change in activity of the microbial community could see increasing amounts of carbon dioxide recycled back into the atmosphere instead of being stored in the deep sea for many decades or centuries.
3D IMAGING REVEALS LEAF COMPLEXITY A team of Australian and US scientists has demonstrated how three-dimensional (3D) imaging can reproduce the inner reality of the leaf, including the dynamic carbon and water exchange processes. Professor John Evans, a Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Translational Photosynthesis , based at the Research School of Biology at The Australian National University, said although leaves and plant cells are three dimensional, plant biologists use highly simplified 1D or 2D models, evading the difficult, confounding and beautiful 3D reality. But the field of plant science is now in the process of being profoundly transformed by new imaging and modelling technologies that are allowing scientists to peer inside the leaf with a clarity and resolution inconceivable a generation ago. The researchers predict that using a collaborative approach, they will be able to answer, within the next decade, outstanding questions about how the 3D special arrangement of organelles, cells and tissues affects photosynthesis and transpiration. The international team of researchers included ARC Future Fellowship recipient, Professor Margaret Barbour from The University of Sydney.
The leaf is an amazingly complex landscape, where water and gases flow in many directions depending on variables such as temperature, light quality and wind. 3D images can give researchers an unprecedented understanding of what is really happening.
(Above): Leaf. Credit: The Australian Research Council. (Below): Internal structure of a piece of sunflower leaf with veins in blue, airspace and plant cells. Credit: Dr Mason Earles.
ADVANCING ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT 40
ADVANCING ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT 41
Collecting microbes from the southern ocean on the RV Investigator. Credit: Emma Cavan.
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online