The 91探花鈥檚 College of the Environment will expand its work related to climate solutions thanks to a grant announced today from , FFST, a new foundation within the Paul G. Allen philanthropic ecosystem.

The College of the Environment will use the $10 million grant from FFST to deepen its work in researching climate solutions, climate prediction and environmental monitoring through field observation and data modeling.

鈥淥ur mission is to enable accelerated discovery and catalyze progress through transformational science and technology,鈥� said Dr. Lynda Stuart, FFST鈥檚 chief executive officer. 鈥淲e need more solutions for some of the most defining challenges of our time, which is why the foundation is focused on bioscience, a range of environmental issues, and the role AI can play to benefit people and the planet. These were three priority areas for Paul Allen, and our early grantees are at the forefront of that work.鈥�

The College of the Environment is the largest environment-focused institute of higher learning in the United States. College of the Environment faculty include globally recognized experts in atmospheric and climate science, geology, forestry, oceanography, fisheries, marine policy and more.

鈥淭his generous support from聽FFST represents a vital investment in the 91探花College of the Environment, strengthening our ability to drive the research, discovery and solutions required to address the most pressing climate challenges of our time,鈥� said 91探花President Robert J. Jones. 鈥淭he 91探花 is deeply grateful for our long-standing relationship with the Paul G. Allen philanthropic ecosystem, and to Dr. Stuart and her team for their vision and commitment to advancing this critical work.鈥�

Through the grant, researchers will build on strengths in the atmospheric and ocean sciences that can be applied to climate solutions, climate prediction and environmental monitoring through robust field observations and theoretical and AI-based modeling. College of the Environment experts hope to gain a better understanding of climate and ecosystem health, which in turn supports the health and wellbeing of all Earth鈥檚 inhabitants.

鈥淪upport from FFST will drive research that transcends traditional boundaries to tackle the urgent challenges of our rapidly changing environment,鈥� said , associate dean of research and program lead at the College of the Environment. 鈥淲orking across scientific disciplines allows us to understand the truly complex nature of these changes and helps us develop the tools that could potentially mitigate them.鈥�

This investment comes at a critical time for environmental science, when support across the funding landscape is uncertain. 鈥淲e are deeply grateful to FFST for their support of the 91探花and the College of the Environment,鈥� Interim Dean said. 鈥淭his investment will ensure we can continue to discover and understand our world, and to pursue bold and innovative solutions to the environmental challenges we face by leveraging the breadth of expertise across the College, the 91探花and our region.鈥�

For more information about FFST, read . Contact John Meyer at the College of the Environment at jjmeyer@uw.edu.

Along with nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, iron is essential for the growth of microscopic phytoplankton in the ocean. However, a new study led by oceanographers at the University of Hawai鈥榠 at M膩noa with collaborators at the 91探花 revealed that iron released from industrial processes, such as coal combustion and steelmaking, is altering the ecosystem in the North Pacific Transition Zone. This region, just north of Hawai鈥榠, is important for fisheries in the Pacific.聽

The was published June 2 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

鈥淲e were able to see a connection between human activities and the location of key ecosystem boundaries in the ocean that are important for marine organisms,鈥� said co-author , a 91探花associate professor of oceanography. 鈥淚 hope this research highlights that human activities can impact the ocean in multiple ways, not just through changes in the climate. I think it also highlights the importance of tracking key ocean ecosystem boundaries over time, so we can better understand how this might impact marine organisms.鈥�

Iron from human activities billows into the atmosphere and can be carried to distant lands or oceans before it鈥檚 scrubbed from the skies by rain. Industrial iron has previously been detected in the North Pacific Transition Zone, but it was unclear what effect the iron had on the ecosystem.

To piece together the seasonal cycle of iron input, phytoplankton growth and ocean mixing, the researchers analyzed water and phytoplankton samples and studied ocean dynamics during four different expeditions to this region of the Pacific Ocean. They also assessed the iron in these waters to determine whether it had the unique isotope signature of iron that is released from industrial processes.聽

The team found that phytoplankton in the region are iron-deficient during the spring, so an increase in the supply of iron boosts the spring phytoplankton bloom that is typical in the area. However, as a result of a booming bloom, they deplete other nutrients more quickly, leading to a crash in phytoplankton later in the season. Importantly, the iron isotope signature did, in fact, indicate the presence of industrial iron out in the Pacific, thousands of miles away from its source.

鈥淭he ocean has boundaries that are invisible to us but known to all sorts of microbes and animals that live there,鈥� said , lead author and assistant professor at the University of Hawai鈥榠 at M膩noa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology. 鈥淭he North Pacific Transition Zone is one of these boundaries. It divides the low-nutrient ocean gyres from the high-nutrient temperate ecosystems to the North. With more iron coming into the system, that boundary is migrating north, but we are also expecting to see these boundaries shift northward as the ocean warms.鈥�

That鈥檚 not necessarily all bad, Hawco said. But unfortunately, the regions of the transition zone that are closer to Hawai鈥榠 are among those that are losing out.聽

鈥淚t’s a one-two punch: Industrial iron is impacting the base of the food web and the warming of the ocean is pushing these phytoplankton-rich waters further and further away from Hawai鈥榠,鈥� Hawco said.

The research team is developing new techniques to monitor the iron nutrition of ocean plankton. This will shed light on how changes in iron supply, from both natural or industrial sources, could impact ocean life.聽

鈥淎 project of this scale is truly the result of collaboration between scientists with diverse expertise,鈥� said co-author , a 91探花research scientist in oceanography. 鈥淭hanks to these collaborations, we were able to integrate satellite observations 鈥� which reveal large-scale, multi-year trends 鈥� with ship-based data collected over several years at the same locations. This integration allowed us to link broad environmental patterns with the fine-scale molecular details of gene expression in key organisms responding to iron availability. Individually, each dataset is valuable, but together, they provide the depth and resolution needed to generate robust, predictive insights into ecosystem dynamics.鈥�

Other 91探花co-authors are and . See the paper for a .

This study was funded by the Simons Foundation and National Science Foundation.聽

This story is adapted from a by the University of Hawai鈥榠 M膩noa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology.

Armbrust has been named a in recognition of her outstanding contributions to ocean sciences and for embodying AGU鈥檚 values by fostering equity, integrity, diversity and open science; by mentoring; through public engagement; and in her communications. Fewer than 1% of AGU members are selected to receive this honor each year.

As a biological oceanographer, Armbrust combines lab- and field-based techniques to study diatoms, a type of plankton. She works from the level of the cell all the way up to the community scale to understand how these organisms both shape and are shaped by their environmental conditions.

Hartmann has been selected to receive the , which is given annually to one honoree in recognition of outstanding contributions in atmospheric sciences. The medal is named in honor of Roger Revelle, an oceanographer who made substantial contributions to the awareness of global climate change.

Hartmann is an atmospheric scientist who studies the atmosphere鈥檚 role in climate variability and change, and how the atmosphere interacts with the ocean in a changing climate. His principal areas of expertise are atmospheric dynamics, remote sensing, and mathematical and statistical techniques for data analysis.

Single-celled organisms in the open ocean use a diverse array of genetic tools to detect light, even in tiny amounts, and respond, according to a study published the week of Feb. 1 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

鈥淚f you look in the ocean environment, all these different organisms have this day-night cycle. They are very in tune with each other, even as they get moved around. How do they know when it鈥檚 day? How do they know when it鈥檚 night?鈥� said lead author , a research scientist in oceanography at the UW.

Though invisible to the human eye, ocean microbes support all marine life, from sardines to whales. Knowing these communities鈥� inner workings could reveal how they will fare under changing ocean conditions.

鈥淛ust like rainforests generate oxygen and take up carbon dioxide, ocean organisms do the same thing in the world鈥檚 oceans. People probably don鈥檛 realize this, but these unicellular organisms are about as important as rainforests for our planet鈥檚 functioning,鈥� Coesel said.

By analyzing RNA filtered out of seawater samples collected throughout the day and night, the study identifies four main groups of photoreceptors, many of them new. This genetic activity uses light to trigger changes in the metabolism, growth, cell division, movements and death of marine organisms.

The discovery of these new genetic 鈥渓ight switches鈥� could also aid in the field of , in which a cell鈥檚 function can be controlled with light exposure. Today鈥檚 optogenetic tools are engineered by humans, but versions from nature might be more sensitive or better detect light of particular wavelengths, the researchers said.

鈥淭his work dramatically expanded the number of photoreceptors 鈥� the different kinds of those on-off switches 鈥� that we know of,鈥� said senior author , a 91探花professor of oceanography.

Not surprisingly, many of the new tools were for light in the blue range, since water filters out red wavelengths (which is why oceans appear blue). Some were also for green light, Coesel said.

The researchers collected water samples far from shore and looked at all genetic activity from protists: single-celled organisms with a nucleus. They filtered the water to select organisms measuring between 200 nanometers to one-tenth of a millimeter across. These included photosynthetic organisms, like algae, which absorb light for energy, as well as other single-celled plankton that gain energy by consuming other organisms.

The team collected samples every four hours, day and night, for four days in the North Pacific near Hawaii. Researchers used trackers to follow the currents about 15 meters (50 feet) below the surface so that the samples came from the same water mass.

The study also looked at samples that came from a depth of 120 and 150 meters (400 and 500 feet), in the ocean鈥檚 鈥渢wilight zone.鈥� Even there, the genetic activity showed that the organisms were responding to very low levels of sunlight.

While the sun is up, these organisms gain energy and grow in size, and at night, when the ultraviolet light is less damaging to their DNA, they undergo cell division.

鈥淒aylight is important for ocean organisms, we know that, we take it for granted. But to see the rhythm of genetic activity during these four days, and the beautiful synchronicity, you realize just how powerful light is,鈥� Armbrust said.

Future work will look at places farther from the equator, where plankton communities are more subjected to the changing seasons.

This research was funded by the Simons Foundation and the National Science Foundation鈥檚 Extreme Science and Engineering Discovery Environment program. Other co-authors are Ryan Groussman, Rhonda Morales and Fran莽ois Ribalet at the UW; Bryndan Durham at the University of Florida; Sarah Hu at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution; and David Caron at the University of Southern California.

For more information, contact Coesel at coesel@uw.edu or Armbrust at armbrust@uw.edu.

A by 91探花 oceanographers, published this summer in Nature Microbiology, looks at how photosynthetic microbes and ocean bacteria use sulfur, a plentiful marine nutrient.

Sulfur is the odorous element that gives beaches their distinctive smell. The new study focused on sulfonates, in which a sulfur atom is connected to three oxygen atoms and a carbon-based molecule. In the ocean, phytoplankton use energy from the sun to create sulfonate molecules. Bacteria then consume the sulfonates to gain nutrients and energy.

, then a 91探花postdoctoral researcher in oceanography and now an assistant professor at the University of Florida, drew on recent genetic studies of soils to learn which microbial pathways are used to process sulfonates in the ocean. The study first focused on 36 marine microbes that the team cultured in the lab, using a UW-developed method to test which organisms produce sulfonates on their own in a lab environment.

The study discovered “some striking similarities between sulfonate pathways in terrestrial and ocean systems,” Durham wrote in a in Nature Microbiology that discusses the project. In soils, plants typically produce sulfonates. In the oceans most sulfonates are also produced by photosynthetic organisms, in this case by unicellular phytoplankton.

The study then considered microbes in the open ocean that cannot yet be bred in the lab. During a 2015 north of Hawaii co-led by a team of researchers including and , both professors of oceanography and senior authors on the new study, microbial samples were collected at different times of day and night. The researchers then froze the samples in order to analyze their genetic and chemical contents back in Seattle.

“We returned from sea with a freezer’s worth of samples that generated over six terabytes of data for us to explore,” Durham wrote, “a major computational hurdle.”

The team eventually succeeded in extracting the relevant data and found patterns that backed up the findings from the lab samples. They also detected a day鈥搉ight rhythm in sulfonate metabolism that reflects the activity of photosynthetic organisms.

“Sulfonates are produced and consumed by certain groups of microbes, so we can use them to track specific relationships in seawater communities,” Durham said. “And because sulfonates contain a carbon鈥搒ulfur bond, they are part of the global carbon cycle which controls the flux of carbon dioxide into and out of the ocean. This is increasingly important to understand as the climate changes.”

Other co-authors are Angela Boysen, Laura Carlson, Ryan Groussman, Katherine Heal, Kelsy Cain, Rhonda Morales, Sacha Coesel and Robert Morris, all at the UW. This research was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Simons Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

For more information, contact Durham at b.durham@ufl.edu, Armbrust at armbrust@uw.edu, or Ingalls at aingalls@uw.edu.

How diatoms respond to rising carbon dioxide levels is still unknown. A new by the 91探花 and Seattle’s Institute for Systems Biology, published June 15 in , finds the genetic ways that a common species of diatom adjusts to sudden and long-term increases in carbon dioxide.

“There are certain genes that respond right away to a change in CO2, but the change in the metabolism doesn’t actually happen until you give the diatoms some time to acclimate,” said first author , a 91探花doctoral student in oceanography.

Understanding the genetic machinery for how diatoms respond to rising carbon dioxide due to fossil fuel burning could help predict the future of the world’s oceans, and determine what role diatoms may play in Earth’s future atmosphere.

Many land plants and other photosynthetic organisms grow faster with more CO2. Surprisingly, Hennon’s showed that at typical nutrient levels the diatoms just kick back and relax.

“Instead of using that energy from the CO2 to grow faster, they just stopped harvesting as much energy from light through photosynthesis and carried out less respiration,” Hennon said.

The new study shows how and why that happens. Hennon cultivated a common species of diatom in the lab under controlled conditions that mimic common ocean conditions, where diatom growth is limited by the availability of nitrogen. In one scenario, she gradually increased the carbon dioxide over four days. In the other scenario she tended her invisible aquarium dwellers for about a month, allowing about 15 generations of diatoms to adjust to CO2 levels as high as 800 parts per million, which Earth’s atmosphere could reach by 2100.

When the CO2 suddenly spikes, as might happen during a sudden change in ocean currents, these diatoms produce a signaling molecule that triggers a molecular cascade of events, reducing the energy-intensive processes required to concentrate the carbon dioxide.

The main enzyme for photosynthesis first evolved during the period, almost 3 billion years ago, when CO2 was extremely high, at several thousand parts per million.

“There hasn’t been another enzyme to replace it since, so plants and algae that photosynthesize have an enzyme that functions better at a higher CO2 level than we currently have,” Hennon said.

When the CO2 remains high for a long time, however, the diatoms make a more radical metabolic shift. They decrease photosynthesis and respiration to balance the cell’s energy budget. In other words, the diatoms use less energy to grow at the same rate. Diatoms could use the existing light energy to grow faster, but only if there are no other limitations on their growth.

“It really depends on where it is,” Hennon said. “There are a lot of situations in the oceans where the diatoms can’t grow faster, because they’re limited by nutrients such as iron or nitrogen.”

Senior author , a 91探花professor of oceanography, sequenced the of the Thalassiosira pseudonana diatom used in this study in 2004. The new paper builds on that work, as well as the growing genetic knowledge of other diatoms.

“We leveraged results from nearly 100 different publicly available experiments to identify these genetic ‘needles in a haystack’ and gain our first hints as to how diatoms detect and respond to increasing CO2 concentrations,” Armbrust said.

This same genetic machinery exists in distantly related diatoms, Hennon said, suggesting that the same response could occur in many species that live in the real oceans.

“It’s really exciting when you find something in a lab strain that you think you might be able to generalize to other diatoms in the field, and maybe even other phytoplankton,” Hennon said.

Future research may look at how the genetic shuffle works for other species and under different environmental conditions, as well as how it ties in with the much slower process of genetic evolution.

“We want to understand how these tiny photosynthetic workhorses will respond to the increasing CO2 concentrations of our future oceans,” Armbrust said.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Other co-authors are 91探花undergraduate ; 91探花research scientists and ; and at the Institute for Systems Biology; and , who holds appointments at both institutions.

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For more information, contact Hennon at gwennm@uw.edu and Armbrust at armbrust@uw.edu or 206-616-1783.

Yet the ecology of marine microbes, which are crucial for everything from absorbing carbon dioxide from the air to regulating the productivity of major fisheries, are only beginning to be understood.

In a step to understanding this hidden world, 91探花 oceanographers have found that diatoms 鈥� the intricately patterned single-celled algae that exist throughout the world’s oceans 鈥� grow faster in the presence of bacteria that release a growth hormone known to benefit land plants. The , published online May 27 in Nature, uses genetic and molecular tools to discover what controls marine ecosystems.

“These very small organisms are interacting with their environment, but they’re also interacting with other organisms,” said co-author , a 91探花professor of oceanography. “In my mind, in order to understand how future ecosystems will work, we need to understand how these organisms that are the basis of the marine food web interact with one another.”

Armbrust’s research group has long studied diatoms, which are microscopic algae that carry out one fifth of the planet’s photosynthesis, more than all the terrestrial rainforests combined. Lab members began this project by looking at which bacteria were found in all samples of Pseudo-nitzschia multiseries, a common coastal diatom collected from five places throughout the northern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Next they cured the water samples of all bacteria living in the seawater, and found that the diatoms did not reproduce as well.

Co-author , a former 91探花postdoctoral researcher now on the faculty at New York University Abu Dhabi, added the bacteria common to all five samples back one at a time. One type, Sulfitobacter, sped up the growth dramatically when added back at a high enough concentration.

The authors showed that these bacteria exchange material with the diatoms while in turn producing , a well-known hormone made by microbes living around the roots of land plants.

“The back-and-forth exchange of materials between these tiny creatures resembles an ongoing dialogue between two living organisms that culminates in the production of auxin,” Amin said. “It was so fascinating that we wondered if we could see this behavior elsewhere.”

Next, researchers went to sea and adopted some high-tech tools. Having shown what happens in the lab, they collected other ocean samples and found the same growth hormone. Then they used to detect the activity of marine microbes 鈥� famously difficult to raise in captivity 鈥� that would never survive the transition to the lab. The same interaction was taking place, especially along coasts, but between different organisms that cannot be transferred to the lab.

“We’re just at a place as a field where we recognize that there may be very specific interactions between marine microbes,” Armbrust said. “Don’t ask me how many comparable interactions are out there. I have no idea. I can only imagine that there’s lots. And we’ve grabbed one of them.”

She predicts that more such interactions will help to explain how ocean waters become or stay productive, or how the base of the marine food web might shift in a changing climate.

“A lot of the high-powered tools that look at the function of individual cells were developed in the medical world,” Armbrust said. “Now that we can apply them to the ocean, we are starting to pull the curtains back on how this hidden world works.”

Other co-authors from 91探花oceanography are graduate students and ; associate professor ; and research scientists , , and . Other co-authors are and from 91探花microbiology; undergraduate from 91探花computer science and engineering; and at the University of Georgia.

The research was funded by the National Science Foundation and the .

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For more information, contact Armbrust at 206-616-1783 or armbrust@uw.edu and Amin at 011-971-2-628-5743 or samin@nyu.edu. See also an accompanying News & Views in Nature.

The students were getting their feet wet, literally, in a new type of oceanography that uses remote instruments to collect real-time data. During the final class May 31, seven instruments were lowered off the UW’s oceanography dock, immersed in saltwater for the first time, and successfully sent their readings back to laptops on shore.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=e6gW9myglQk

“We’ve got data!” said lead instructor , a senior lecturer in the 91探花School of Oceanography.

Earlier in the year guest lecturers introduced students to concepts such as how metal reacts with salt water, how to make rubber gaskets to prevent leaks, and even how to apply for permits to leave an instrument down long term.

It’s the second year the course has been offered, and the first time that students tested their instruments in the water. The 22 undergraduates this year are mostly from oceanography, but also fisheries, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and geology. Some came in with almost no background in electronics. All became more familiar with things like programming Arduino microcontrollers, measuring voltages and figuring out data rates.

“You can see the future of oceanography is remote instrumentation,” Logsdon said. “It just makes so much sense for our students, the next generation of ocean scientists, to be knowledgeable about the technology. They need to know what’s inside the black box.”

Some students also will participate this summer in the cruise to install a National Science Foundation off the Pacific Northwest coast. This course prepares students to work on such systems, to deal with data streaming back to shore, and even to design new instruments that could connect to this type of infrastructure.

Students in the class built sensors to measure light, oxygen and vibrations. Others designed ways to measure the firmness of the seafloor, a moving platform to hold a camera and other instruments, and a small robot to do subsurface inspections. The students also looked into how to store and display the data streaming back.

The plan is for future students to build their own , a permanent cable off the 91探花oceanography dock that will carry power and Internet to oceanographic sensors. That will let students collect real-time data about the urban waterway out their classroom windows.

“These students’ future is data 鈥� lots of data,” said , director of the 91探花School of Oceanography, who stopped by to see the water test. “I guarantee that the best data these students have ever seen is the data they generate themselves.”

Armbrust imagines that someday students could check on their instruments between classes, or conduct an oceanographic research cruise in Portage Bay by kayak. Having an observatory on campus could expose many more students to oceanographic fieldwork, and enable the types of multidisciplinary collaboration that will be the future of the field.

“A decade from now, we’re going to have more data about Portage Bay than you would believe,” said instructor , a 91探花oceanographer.

Other instructors were Rick Rupan, a 91探花oceanographer who also leads the 91探花underwater robotics team; Orest Kawka, a project scientist with the NSF-sponsored cabled observatory; Wendi Ruef, a research scientist in oceanography; and Ken Feldman, a 91探花ocean engineer.

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For more information, contact Logdson at 206-543-5334 or mlog@uw.edu and Armbrust at 206-616-1783 or armbrust@uw.edu.