Can microorganisms travel?

12 February 2024, by CEN News

Photo: Rachel Harmer

Using a remote-controlled measuring device and a video plankton recorder more than 160,000 particles were recorded.

A new study shows that cyanobacteria can be transported from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean. This was demonstrated by a team led by Dr Bettina Martin from the CEN at the University of Hamburg for the Benguela upwelling area in the South Atlantic and published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Cyanobacteria of the genus Trichodesmium can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere. They therefore play a key role in the nitrogen cycle of the oceans. The blue-green algae fertilise the nutrient-poor regions of the tropical and subtropical oceans, the so-called "deserts of the seas", and are therefore essential for the biological carbon pump. Until now, little was known about their distribution in upwelling areas and their transport routes across oceans.

Using a remote-controlled measuring device with a video plankton recorder, marine biologist Bettina Martin has now shown that Trichodesmium occurs in salt-rich water masses that are cut off from the Agulhas Current, which originates in the Indian Ocean, and move northwestwards. This provides evidence that the blue-green algae can be transported from the Indian to the Atlantic Ocean. The measuring device was towed at a speed of 8 knots over two sections off Namibia and South Africa, travelling distances of 372 km and 249 km respectively. The camera recorded around 163,000 particles, which were analysed using specially developed software.