300128 UE Marine Microbial Symbiosis Course (2016S)

This course provides an introduction into the practical field of marine microbial symbiosis research. Emphasis is laid on a multidisciplinary integrative approach, ranging from microbial to organismal biology to ecology. Every course has a specific topic that will be discussed in seminars. Students will learn how to cooperate in small groups, develop a research project, get an overview on the relevant literature, develop hypotheses, research questions and a research plan, organize the field trip, get familiar with underwater field and lab work, carry out practical work under the given circumstances, and present their results in form of oral presentations and a written report. A research station, appropriate for the selected topic will be chosen for a two-weeks field trip.
Topic of course 2016:
Diverse microbial symbioses live in shallow-water, tropical marine environments, from 1) photoautotrophic dinoflagellates and bacteria associated with corals and upside down jellyfish, 2) thiotrophic bacterial symbionts with archea, protists, stilbonematine nematodes, gutless oligochaetes, and lucinid clams 3) multi-species consortia in sponges, 4) heterotroph, anaerobic methanogens and sulfate reducing bacteria in protists, 5) nitrogen fixing bacteria in shipworms. The ecosystems found in Guadeloupe span coral reefs, seagrass meadows, mangroves, intertidal and subtidal sediments, and shallow-water hydrothermal vents.
Goals:
According to ecosystem, we will search for symbioses in situ, and characterize their habitat (location, depth, temperature, salinity, pH, oxygen, sulfide). In selected symbioses, abundances will be studied and in situ and in vivo stress experiments will be designed and carried out.
Methods:
NO scuba diving, snorkeling required (ABC equipment required, diving suite recommended)
Underwater sampling of animals, seagrass, mangrove peat, wood, water and porewater, sediment; underwater photography and video; measurements of temperature, salinity, pH, oxygen, sulfide, nitrate; dissection-, light- and epifluorescence microsopy and photography and video, extraction and filtration techniques for microbes and animals, stainings: DAPI, live/dead bacterial viability, nile red and bodipy staining, biofilm cell stain, flow-through experimental chamber maintenance