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
Microbial oxygen production in the dark
Cryptic oxygen cycling

FUNDERS and PROJECTS (last 5 years)

ERC: RECLESS
DFF: Danish coastal waters as hotbeds of nitrous oxide emission
VILLUM: Cryptic microbial oxygen cycling: Drivers, evolution and environmental significance
HFSP: Dark oxygen production: Assessing an overlooked microbial process in Earth's hidden ecosystems
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, Associate Professor (oxygen dynamics linked to primary production and respiration)
Laura BRISTOW, Adjunct Associate Professor (OMZ, O2-control of N-cycle and methane-cycle)
Don CANFIELD, Professor (evolution of oxygen, oxygen and microbial and animal physiology)
Ronnie N. GLUD, Professor (O2-control on sedimentary and benthic communities; benthic primary production; in situ technology, microsensors)
Hans F. HANSEN, Postdoc (photosynthesis)
Amelie HEIDENREICH, PhD student (Physiological adaptations of methanogens and methanotrophs to oxygen depletion)
Elisa A. HERNANDEZ MAGANA, Postdoc (Dark oxygen production, O2-control of N-cycle, N-cycle in oxygen-depleted environments)
Beate KRAFT, Associate Professor (O2-control of N-cycle; oxygen production in the dark, cryptic oxygen cycling)
Lars KUMALA, ATAP (sponge physiology, filter-feeding, respiration, oxygen)
Carolin LOESCHER, Associate Professor (ocean deoxygenation, molecular ecology)
Toshiki NAGAKURA, Postdoc (Dark oxygen production)
Kazumasa OGURI, Associate Professor (O2 imaging)
Kasper P. OLESEN, Postdoc (paleoredox, stable isotopes, trace metals)
Christian Furbo REEDER, Visiting fellow (O2-control on N-cycle; photosynthesis)
Isabell SCHLANGEN, Postdoc (O2 impact on N-cycle and C-cycle in oxygen minimum zones)
Astrid SCHUSTER, Assistant Professor (O2-requirements in basal 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)
Wenjie XIAO, Postdoc (O2 consumption quantification)
Peihang XU, Postdoc (O2 impact of N-cycle and C-cycle, oxygen minimum zone)

Image rights: Don Canfield