Scientists hope to understand microbes that can survive in "dead zones"

Oregon State University scientists have received a three-year, $5 million grant to study microscopic organisms in low-oxygen areas of the ocean off the coast of Oregon and Chile.

"We call them dead zones, because crabs and fishes cannot survive. But they are not dead, because there is a lot of microbial activity that takes place in them," said Ricardo Letelier, a professor in OSU's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences.

Microbes are the most abundant life form in the ocean, "but we understand very little about them," Letelier said.

"They're responsible for us being here," he added, noting that without microbes - one species alone of which is responsible for about 30 percent of the photosynthesis in the world - there wouldn't be enough oxygen for humans to breath.

The researchers hope to find how the microbes respond to environmental disruptions, and use this to theorize how these ecosystems could evolve under a climate change scenario.

Letelier, who is originally from Chile, also said scientists will try to categorize and quantify the diversity of microbes in those spots, find what they do and see if the species in each location is similar.

Some researchers also will inspect ocean sediment in Oregon and Chile to try to understand the long-term evolution of these low-oxygen areas of the ocean.

"That will allow us to go 20,000 years in the past," Letelier said.

Both of the "dead zones" are seasonal. In Chile, however, the hypoxic area and die-off of marine creatures has been "very reliable and predictable" for decades, Letelier said. Oregon's showed up only recently.

"We don't understand the forces as well as Chile," Letelier said.

The $5 million grant is from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which seeks to advance environmental conservation and cutting-edge scientific research around the world.

The foundation also has awarded OSU a second grant, this one for a $3.1 million study on a group of bacteria that has become the most common life form in the oceans, largely because it is very simple.

OSU scientists will collaborate with colleagues at Universidad de Concepcion in Chile. Microbial samples will be sent to Penn State University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Among the OSU scientists on the project are microbiologist Stephen Giovannoni, oceanographers Jack Barth and Alan Mix, and zoologists Francis Chan and Jane Lubchenco, who recently was named to head the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Kyle Odegard covers Oregon State University. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.