Cryptic microbial hydrocarbon cycling in the ocean

This PhD explores a hidden hydrocarbon cycle between phototrophic and heterotrophic microbes, which has extensive implications ranging from global carbon cycling to oil-spill response.

Marine cyanobacteria synthesise alkanes/alkenes, releasing 100 times more hydrocarbons into the ocean than oil seeps and pollution events! However, the sea is not awash with oil thanks to microbes that degrade this steady, widespread, but low-concentration supply of hydrocarbons: the short-term hydrocarbon cycle.

Microalgae (photosynthetic protists, such as diatoms) have much higher global biomass and diversity than cyanobacteria, producing a broader range of hydrocarbons, yet their contribution to hydrocarbon cycling is unknown.