Oxygen

The influence of oxygen on life

The surface of the earth is bathed in oxygen, and many organisms typically live in an oxic world. However, areas of low (hypoxic) and no oxygen (anoxic) are also full of life that plays an important role in element cycling and ecosystem functioning. At Nordcee, we seek to understand the effects of oxygen on a range of organisms from microbes to animals from different environments, working with individual organisms and whole communities. We want to know how are organisms adapted to their local environments, and how do they respond to changes in oxygen concentrations. We also study how nutrients are cycled between oxic, hypoxic, anoxic environments and at the interfaces in between. These studies are also relevant to the evolution of life on earth.

KEY RESEARCH AREAS

Oxygen minimum zones
Oxygen control on N-cycle and CH4-cycle
Oxygen control on sedimentary and benthic community structure
Benthic primary production
Oxygen requirement in basal animals
Oxygenic and anoxygenic photosynthesis
Anaerobes making oxygen

FUNDERS and PROJECTS (last 5 years)

VILLUM: Center for Environmental and Biological Evolution
VILLUM: A newly discovered microbial oxygen production pathway
ERC: NOVAMOX
DFF: Recycling versus loss in the marine N-cycle
AGOURON: Microbial oceanography of the oxygen-deficient waters of the eastern tropical South Pacific
The Academy of Finland: The Breathing Seascape
The Walter and Andrée de Nottbeck Foundation
DFF: Sediment resuspension: an understudied key factor for biogeochemical functioning of coastal habitats
DIAS: Microbial feedbacks in OMZ waters

PERSONNEL (A-Z)

Karl ATTARD, Assistant Professor (O2-control on sedimentary and benthic communities, benthic primary production, coastal observatories)
Laura BRISTOW, Assistant Professor (OMZ, O2-control of N-cycle and methane-cycle)
Don CANFIELD, Professor (OMZ; O2-control of N-cycle; O2-requirements animals; photosynthesis)
Christian Furbo CHRISTIANSEN (O2-control on N-cycle; photosynthesis)
Lisa ECKFORD-SOPER, Postdoc (photosynthesis)
Warren FRANCIS, Postdoc (O2-requirements animals)
Ronnie N. GLUD, Professor (O2-control on sedimentary and benthic communities ; benthic primary production; in situ technology, microsensors)
Hans F. HANSEN, Ph.D. student (photosynthesis)
Elisa A. HERNANDEZ MAGANA, Ph.D. student (anaerobes making O2)
Beate KRAFT, Assistant Professor (O2-control of N-cycle; anaerobes making O2)
Lars KUMALA, Postdoc (O2-requirements animals)
Carolin LOESCHER, Assistant Professor (OMZ, O2-control of N-cycle, photosynthesis)
Astrid SCHUSTER, Postdoc (O2-requirements in basal animals)
Herdís G. STEINSDOTTIR, Ph.D. Student (OMZ, O2-control of CH4-cycle)
Brian STREHLOW, Postdoc (O2-requirements animals)
Bo THAMDRUP, Professor (OMZ, O2-control of N-cycle and methane-cycle)
Alexander TREUSCH, Associate Professor (oxycline communities; effect of fluctuating O2 on microbiomes)
Sarah WEBER, Postdoc (OMZ, O2-control of N-cycle)
Peihang XU, Ph.D. student (O2-control; C-cycle; photosynthesis)

Image rights: Don Canfield