| Session Details | |
| Section | OS - Ocean Sciences |
| Session Title | Microbial Processes, Carbon Cycling and Ocean Acidification in the Ocean |
| Main Convener | Dr. Ramaiah Nagappa (National Institute of Oceanography, India) |
| Co-convener(s) | Dr. Koji Hamasaki (Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, Japan) Prof. kunshan Gao (Xiamen University, China) |
| Session Description | It is almost unambiguously acknowledged that well over 80% of the 3 billion tonnes of ocean carbon-biomass is contained in the organisms <100 µm. This should not be a surprise as there are, on an average, one million cells of bacteria per millilitre seawater (= ~10^30 bacterial cells in the world oceans). Such abundant, ubiquitous and ecologically pivotal microscopic entities are appreciated, and being realized, to be playing central roles in ocean productivity, food-web dynamics, material fluxes and in a variety of biogeochemical processes. The systems-biologists, biological oceanographers and environmentalists need basic data on how, and why a particular assemblage of microbes performs what it actually does in a given ambit of different marine ecosystems. Immense opportunities are possible through studies on marine microbial communities and their functions for limiting the adversities of climate change. A paradigm-shift is necessary for deciphering the production of dissolved organic carbon/matter (DOC/M) refractory to microbial uptake so that it can reside unaltered in the seawater for several 1000s of years. The recent idea of microbial carbon pump has to be strengthened globally as to not only investigate the chemical characteristics of this refractory DOC/M but also to realise the actual role and importance of marine microbes in the Climate Change Research. |