Microbes as drivers of global element cycles

We explore how microbes drive small to large scale cycling of elements. We work towards understanding how environmental factors regulate these elemental cycles by shaping the microbial communities involved, both at present and in deep time. We further strive to explain the underlying physiological mechanisms and are actively hunting for yet unknown organisms and novel pathways.

KEY RESEARCH AREAS

Freshwater & Marine sediment biogeochemistry
Nitrogen cycle
Recycling versus loss in the marine N cycle
Carbon cycle
Ecophysiology
Deep-sea biogeochemistry
Interspecies interactions
Microbe-mineral interactions

FUNDERS and PROJECTS (last 5 years)

ERC: RECLESS
DFF: Anaerobic methane oxidation - an overlocked barrier to methane emissions from freshwater systems
DFF: Danish coastal waters as hotbeds of nitrous oxide emission
CARLSBERG: Microbial methane cycling under oxygen depletion
VILLUM: Cryptic microbial oxygen cycling: Drivers, evolution and environmental significance
ERC: MIMET
DFF CENTER: HADAL
VILLUM: A newly discovered microbial oxygen production pathway
DIAS: Evolution and Ecology of N2 fixation in the ocean
DIAS: Microbial feedbacks in climate change
Chinese Res. Council: Ecology of anoxygenic phototrophs in OMZ

PERSONNEL (A-Z)

Karl ATTARD, Associate Professor (microbial primary production and respiration)
Jacob BRUUN JØRGENSEN, PhD student (Anaerobic methane oxidation, Methane cycle)
Don CANFIELD, Professor (Geobiology, oxygen, Fe, N, S cycles, microbial and animal physiology)
Yen-Ting CHEN, PhD student (S-cycle, C-cycle, bioinformatics)
Morten ELSNER KIELER, Engineering Assistant, Lab Technician (Pressure tanks)
Ronnie N. GLUD, Professor (Carbon mineralization, carbon burial, microbial interactions)
Anni GLUD, Lab Technician (Microsensors)
Heidi GRØN JENSEN, Lab Manager (GC, IC)
Amelie HEIDENREICH, PhD student (Physiology, Methane cycle)
Karina HERNÁNDEZ GARCÍA, PhD student (Methane cycle, aquatic systems, syntrophic interactions)
Elisa HERNANDEZ MAGANA, Postdoc (Ecophysiology, N-cycle)
Danijel JOVICIC, Ph.D. student (Interspecies & microbe-mineral interactions; methane-cycling)
Beate KRAFT, Associate Professor (Ecophysiology, N-cycle, microbial interactions)
Carolin LOESCHER, Associate Professor (Biogeochemistry, N/ C cycle, ocean deoxygenation, ocean acidification, molecular ecology)
Toshiki NAGAKURA, Postdoc (N-cycle)
Amelia-Elena ROTARU, Professor (Interspecies & microbe-mineral interactions; methane-cycle, C-cycle)
Christian Furbo REEDER, Visiting fellow (Nitrogen fixation; greenhouse gases)
Isabell SCHLANGEN, Postdoc (C-Cycle, N-cycle, rate measurements)
Peter STIEF, Associate Professor (carbon and nitrogen cycling, eukaryotic microbiology)
Bo THAMDRUP, Professor (deep-sea biogeochemistry; N-cycles)
Sachia TRAVING, Postdoc (viral ecology, bacteriophages, C-, N-, S-cycle, bioinformatics, culture work)
Alexander TREUSCH, Associate Professor (N-, C-cycles; greenhouse gases)
Blandine TROUCHE, Postdoc (N-cycle, S-cycle, hadal microbial functional potential)
Peihang XU, Postdoc (C-Cycle, N-Cycle, bioinformatics, rate measurements)
Lasse ØRUM-SMIDT, Lab Technician (methanogens, GC)

Image rights: Amelia-Elena Rotaru