Abstract

Prokaryotic and eukaryotic microorganisms play a major role in energy flow and nutrient cycling in marine planktonic ecosystems. Although most studies lumped the different microbial species into functional groups, it has become evident that for a better understanding of the ecological role of complex microbial assemblages it is necessary to unveil the general diversity and the dominating species. For the future it will be important to combine several of the molecular approaches which give a qualitative picture of the in situ diversity with methods which can be used to quantify the abundance of important species. Besides FISH that also real-time PCR can be used for this purpose. Additionally, it is essential to obtain isolates of the dominating species in order to optimize the probe development and to perform studies on their ecological and physiological characteristics.

Ramon Massana

Staff scientist

I am microbial ecologists with a deep interest in protist ecology and evolution