Microbial ecosystem dynamics regulate the storage and cycling of carbon in both terrestrial and marine systems.
To develop a mechanistic understanding of microbial control on carbon pools at the ocean scale, researchers within PriME develop mathematical models of carbon transport in the ocean that integrate many of the findings at the scale of bacterial physiology, behavior and interactions.
Our work indicates that microbial interactions on particles exert an important control on carbon flux, and is a first step in bridging the vast divide between microscale observations and ocean-scale carbon dynamics.