Phytoplankton survival in the polar night
Goals
Phytoplankton is responsible for nearly half of the photosynthesis on the planet. In polar regions, phototrophic organisms need to survive during long periods of darkness occurring in winter. However survival mechanisms remain mysterious and elucidating them would provide a key to understanding how primary production is sustained in polar ecosystems which are among the highest productive areas on the planet. Until now, studies have been hampered by the difficulty to access these environments, especially in winter. The Norwegian project MicroPolar to which the two French PIs are associated has offered a unique opportunity to sample polar waters every two months for one year, including during winter (January, March, May, August and November 2014). PhytoPol was taking advantage of this to address the question of the survival of phytoplankton during long darkness. The project is structured in three tasks: i) characterize dominant Arctic photosynthetic pico- and nano-phytoplankton strains, ii) determine the physiological mechanism(s) used to survive long periods in the dark, and iii) elucidate the molecular mechanisms of these adaptations.
Period
2015-2021
Partners
- Station Biologique de Roscoff DIPO team (Daniel Vaulot, Fabrice Not, Valeria Jimenez, Catherine Ribeiro)
- Observatoire Océanographique de Banyuls (Hervé Moreau (deceased), Sheree Yau).
Funding
- ANR France
- Région Bretagne