A holistic approach to marine eco-systems biology

Abstract

The structure, robustness, and dynamics of ocean plankton ecosystems remain poorly understood due to sampling, analysis, and computational limitations. The Tara Oceans consortium organizes expeditions to help fill this gap at the global level.

Figure 1. The Tara Oceans cruise.

(A) Route of the Tara Oceans expedition. Sampling stations from surface to 1,000 m are carried out between ports of call guided by satellite data about the basin to sub-mesoscale structures. (B) Tara Oceans sampling sites in the Mozambique Channel and South Atlantic. The images show near real time sea surface height (SSH) from satellite. Each sampling station is indicated by a black diamond; those that are currently being targeted for priority studies are encircled by a white halo. The altimetry data is from September 16, 2011, when Tara was sampling inside an Agulhas ring. Several other rings are also apparent in the figure, as is the Malvinas Current off the Argentinean coast that injects cold Antarctic water into the resident waters.

Figure 2. The Tara Oceans model.

(A) Methods for sampling organisms by size classes and abundance. The blue background indicates the filtered volume required to obtain sufficient organism numbers for analysis. Actual volumes from which organisms are sampled are always recorded. (B) Methods for analyzing samples. Data on the right are from Tara Oceans sampling stations. (C) Models that will benefit from Tara Oceans data. High throughput genome sequencing and quantitative image analysis provide evolution, metabolic, and interaction data to build community metabolome maps, taxa/gene networks, and spatial ecosystem models.