ENVS Colloquium: Phytoplankton like a mixed diet!
Join us on Zoom on April 19 for our Spring departmental colloquium
Dr. Solange Duhamel is an Associate Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the University of Arizona. The Duhamel Lab for marine microbiology & biogeochemistry specializes in the abundance, diversity & activity of aquatic microbes in the ocean, as well as in lakes, rivers, & wetland ecosystems.
Historically, phytoplankton have been assumed to be autotrophic, producing carbon biomass using energy from the sun via photosynthesis. However, over the last several decades, it has become clear that phytoplankton often supplement autotrophic photosynthesis with heterotrophic modes of nutrition in which they also utilize organic matter. This mixed diet is defined as mixotrophy. The extent to which phytoplankton feed mixotrophically can have vast implications for marine ecosystems.In this presentation, in this presentation, Duhamel will provide an overview of the recent finding about phytoplankton mixotrophy discovered in my lab.