Paul Falkowski

Last updated
Paul G. Falkowski
Born1951
Nationality American
Alma mater City College of New York
University of British Columbia
AwardsHuntsman Medal
Hutchison Prize
Vernadsky medal (EGU)
ECI Prize
Tyler Prize
Scientific career
Fields Biological oceanographer
Institutions University of Rhode Island
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Rutgers University
Doctoral students Felisa Lauren Wolfe-Simon

Paul G. Falkowski (born 1951) is an American biological oceanographer in the Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. His research work focuses on phytoplankton and primary production, and his wider interests include evolution, paleoecology, photosynthesis, biogeochemical cycles and astrobiology.

Contents

Early life and education

Born in New York City in 1951, Falkowski was educated at the City College of New York, where he received his BSc. and MSc. degrees. [1] He completed his doctoral thesis in biology and biophysics at the University of British Columbia in 1975.

Career

After postdoctoral research at the University of Rhode Island, he moved to the Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1976 to join its newly formed oceanography department, and in 1998 he moved to Rutgers University. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1992, and was appointed as Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor at the University of British Columbia in 1996.

Falkowski's research work has included studies of phytoplankton nutrient acquisition [2] and the relationships with light of both phytoplankton [3] [4] and corals. [5] He has also studied the biophysical controls on ocean productivity [6] and export production, [7] and the importance of the nitrogen [8] and iron cycles [9] in ocean biogeochemistry. [10] His research has also drawn in geoengineering, [11] astrobiology, [12] and the evolution of groups including phytoplankton [13] and placental mammals. [14] He is also a co-author, with John Raven, of the influential textbook Aquatic Photosynthesis. [15]

Awards and honours

He has been elected to a number of learned societies including the American Geophysical Union (2001), the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2002) and the National Academy of Sciences (2007). He has also received a number of awards including the A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in the Marine Sciences (1998), [16] the G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award (2000), [17] the European Geosciences Union Vernadsky Medal (2005) [18] and the ECI Prize (2010). [19] In 2018, Paul Falkowski was nominated as a recipient of the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement for his work on phytoplankton as it relates to climate change impacts. He shares the 2018 Tyler Prize, [20] [ circular reference ] known as the "Nobel Prize" of the environment, with fellow biological oceanographer Dr. James J. McCarthy [21] [ circular reference ] of Harvard University. [22]

Related Research Articles

The photic zone, euphotic zone, epipelagic zone, or sunlight zone is the uppermost layer of a body of water that receives sunlight, allowing phytoplankton to perform photosynthesis. It undergoes a series of physical, chemical, and biological processes that supply nutrients into the upper water column. The photic zone is home to the majority of aquatic life due to the activity of the phytoplankton. The thicknesses of the photic and euphotic zones vary with the intensity of sunlight as a function of season and latitude and with the degree of water turbidity. The bottommost, or aphotic, zone is the region of perpetual darkness that lies beneath the photic zone and includes most of the ocean waters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phytoplankton</span> Autotrophic members of the plankton ecosystem

Phytoplankton are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems. The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν, meaning 'plant', and πλαγκτός, meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primary production</span> Synthesis of organic compounds from carbon dioxide by biological organisms

In ecology, primary production is the synthesis of organic compounds from atmospheric or aqueous carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through chemosynthesis, which uses the oxidation or reduction of inorganic chemical compounds as its source of energy. Almost all life on Earth relies directly or indirectly on primary production. The organisms responsible for primary production are known as primary producers or autotrophs, and form the base of the food chain. In terrestrial ecoregions, these are mainly plants, while in aquatic ecoregions algae predominate in this role. Ecologists distinguish primary production as either net or gross, the former accounting for losses to processes such as cellular respiration, the latter not.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biological pump</span> Carbon capture process in oceans

The biological pump (or ocean carbon biological pump or marine biological carbon pump) is the ocean's biologically driven sequestration of carbon from the atmosphere and land runoff to the ocean interior and seafloor sediments. In other words, it is a biologically mediated process which results in the sequestering of carbon in the deep ocean away from the atmosphere and the land. The biological pump is the biological component of the "marine carbon pump" which contains both a physical and biological component. It is the part of the broader oceanic carbon cycle responsible for the cycling of organic matter formed mainly by phytoplankton during photosynthesis (soft-tissue pump), as well as the cycling of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) formed into shells by certain organisms such as plankton and mollusks (carbonate pump).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxygen cycle</span> Biogeochemical cycle of oxygen

Oxygen cycle refers to the movement of oxygen through the atmosphere (air), biosphere (plants and animals) and the lithosphere (the Earth’s crust). The oxygen cycle demonstrates how free oxygen is made available in each of these regions, as well as how it is used. The oxygen cycle is the biogeochemical cycle of oxygen atoms between different oxidation states in ions, oxides, and molecules through redox reactions within and between the spheres/reservoirs of the planet Earth. The word oxygen in the literature typically refers to the most common oxygen allotrope, elemental/diatomic oxygen (O2), as it is a common product or reactant of many biogeochemical redox reactions within the cycle. Processes within the oxygen cycle are considered to be biological or geological and are evaluated as either a source (O2 production) or sink (O2 consumption).

<i>Emiliania huxleyi</i> Unicellular algae responsible for the formation of chalk

Emiliania huxleyi is a species of coccolithophore found in almost all ocean ecosystems from the equator to sub-polar regions, and from nutrient rich upwelling zones to nutrient poor oligotrophic waters. It is one of thousands of different photosynthetic plankton that freely drift in the photic zone of the ocean, forming the basis of virtually all marine food webs. It is studied for the extensive blooms it forms in nutrient-depleted waters after the reformation of the summer thermocline. Like other coccolithophores, E. huxleyi is a single-celled phytoplankton covered with uniquely ornamented calcite disks called coccoliths. Individual coccoliths are abundant in marine sediments although complete coccospheres are more unusual. In the case of E. huxleyi, not only the shell, but also the soft part of the organism may be recorded in sediments. It produces a group of chemical compounds that are very resistant to decomposition. These chemical compounds, known as alkenones, can be found in marine sediments long after other soft parts of the organisms have decomposed. Alkenones are most commonly used by earth scientists as a means to estimate past sea surface temperatures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iron cycle</span>

The iron cycle (Fe) is the biogeochemical cycle of iron through the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere and lithosphere. While Fe is highly abundant in the Earth's crust, it is less common in oxygenated surface waters. Iron is a key micronutrient in primary productivity, and a limiting nutrient in the Southern ocean, eastern equatorial Pacific, and the subarctic Pacific referred to as High-Nutrient, Low-Chlorophyll (HNLC) regions of the ocean.

High-nutrient, low-chlorophyll (HNLC) regions are regions of the ocean where the abundance of phytoplankton is low and fairly constant despite the availability of macronutrients. Phytoplankton rely on a suite of nutrients for cellular function. Macronutrients are generally available in higher quantities in surface ocean waters, and are the typical components of common garden fertilizers. Micronutrients are generally available in lower quantities and include trace metals. Macronutrients are typically available in millimolar concentrations, while micronutrients are generally available in micro- to nanomolar concentrations. In general, nitrogen tends to be a limiting ocean nutrient, but in HNLC regions it is never significantly depleted. Instead, these regions tend to be limited by low concentrations of metabolizable iron. Iron is a critical phytoplankton micronutrient necessary for enzyme catalysis and electron transport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Redfield ratio</span>

The Redfield ratio or Redfield stoichiometry is the consistent atomic ratio of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus found in marine phytoplankton and throughout the deep oceans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ocean fertilization</span> Type of climate engineering

Ocean fertilization or ocean nourishment is a type of technology for carbon dioxide removal from the ocean based on the purposeful introduction of plant nutrients to the upper ocean to increase marine food production and to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Ocean nutrient fertilization, for example iron fertilization, could stimulate photosynthesis in phytoplankton. The phytoplankton would convert the ocean's dissolved carbon dioxide into carbohydrate, some of which would sink into the deeper ocean before oxidizing. More than a dozen open-sea experiments confirmed that adding iron to the ocean increases photosynthesis in phytoplankton by up to 30 times.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sallie W. Chisholm</span> American oceanographer, marine biologist

Sallie Watson "Penny" Chisholm is an American biological oceanographer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is an expert in the ecology and evolution of ocean microbes. Her research focuses particularly on the most abundant marine phytoplankton, Prochlorococcus, that she discovered in the 1980s with Rob Olson and other collaborators. She has a TED talk about their discovery and importance called "The tiny creature that secretly powers the planet".

Donald Eugene Canfield is a geochemist and Professor of Ecology at the University of Southern Denmark known for his work on the evolution of Earth's atmosphere and oceans. The Canfield ocean, a sulfidic partially oxic ocean existing during the middle of the Proterozoic eon, is named after him.

<i>Pyrocystis fusiformis</i> Species of single-celled organism

Pyrocystis fusiformis is a non-motile, tropical, epipelagic, marine dinoflagellate, reaching lengths of up to 1 millimetre (0.039 in). P. fusiformis display bioluminescence when disturbed or agitated. In coastal marine waters, this dinoflagellate causes glowing effects after dark. P. fusiformis was first described in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London in 1876.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bacterioplankton</span> Bacterial component of the plankton that drifts in the water column

Bacterioplankton refers to the bacterial component of the plankton that drifts in the water column. The name comes from the Ancient Greek word πλανκτος, meaning "wanderer" or "drifter", and bacterium, a Latin term coined in the 19th century by Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg. They are found in both seawater and freshwater.

William Li is a Canadian biological oceanographer who did research on marine picoplankton, marine macroecology, ocean surveys of plankton from measurements of flow cytometry, and detection of multi-annual ecological change in marine phytoplankton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marine primary production</span> Marine synthesis of organic compounds

Marine primary production is the chemical synthesis in the ocean of organic compounds from atmospheric or dissolved carbon dioxide. It principally occurs through the process of photosynthesis, which uses light as its source of energy, but it also occurs through chemosynthesis, which uses the oxidation or reduction of inorganic chemical compounds as its source of energy. Almost all life on Earth relies directly or indirectly on primary production. The organisms responsible for primary production are called primary producers or autotrophs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trevor Platt</span> British and Canadian marine scientist

Trevor Charles Platt was a British and Canadian biological oceanographer who was distinguished for his fundamental contributions to quantifying primary production by phytoplankton at various scales of space and time in the ocean.

Elena Litchman is a professor of aquatic ecology at Michigan State University known for her research on the consequences of global environmental change on phytoplankton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Curtis A. Suttle</span> Canadian microbiologist

Curtis A. Suttle is a Canadian microbiologist and oceanographer who is a faculty member at the University of British Columbia. Suttle is a Distinguished University Professor who holds appointments in Earth & Ocean Sciences, Botany, Microbiology & Immunology and the Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. On 29 December, 2021 he was named to the Order of Canada. His research is focused on the ecology of viruses in marine systems as well as other natural environments.

Debbie Lindell is the Dresner Chair in life sciences and medicine at Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. She is known for her work on the interactions between viruses and their hosts in marine environments.

References

  1. ↑ "Photosynthetic and atmospheric evolution: speaker biography". Royal Society. 2007-11-12. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  2. ↑ Falkowski, P.G.; Stone, D.P. (1975). "Nitrate uptake in marine phytoplankton - energy-sources and interaction with carbon fixation". Mar. Biol. 32: 77–84. doi:10.1007/BF00395161. S2CID   84548466.
  3. ↑ Falkowski, P.G.; Owens, T.G. (1980). "Light—Shade Adaptation : TWO STRATEGIES IN MARINE PHYTOPLANKTON". Plant Physiology. 66 (4): 592–595. doi:10.1104/pp.66.4.592. PMC   440685 . PMID   16661484.
  4. ↑ Falkowski, P.G.; Dubinsky, Z.; Wyman, K. (1985). "Growth-irradiance relationships in phytoplankton". Limnology and Oceanography. 30 (2): 311–321. Bibcode:1985LimOc..30..311F. doi: 10.4319/lo.1985.30.2.0311 .
  5. ↑ Falkowski, P.G.; Dubinsky, Z. (1981). "Light-shade adaptation of Stylophora pistillata, a hermatypic coral from the Gulf of Eilat". Nature. 289 (5794): 172–174. Bibcode:1981Natur.289..172F. doi:10.1038/289172a0. S2CID   4280263.
  6. ↑ Falkowski, P.G.; et al. (1991). "Role of eddy pumping in enhancing primary production in the ocean". Nature. 352 (6330): 55–58. Bibcode:1991Natur.352...55F. doi:10.1038/352055a0. S2CID   4346005.
  7. ↑ Falkowski, P.G.; Biscaye, P.E.; Sancetta, C. (1994). "The lateral flux of biogenic particles from the eastern North-American continental-margin to the North-Atlantic Ocean". Deep-Sea Research Part II. 41 (2–3): 583–601. Bibcode:1994DSRII..41..583F. doi:10.1016/0967-0645(94)90036-1.
  8. ↑ Falkowski, P.G. (1997). "Evolution of the nitrogen cycle and its influence on the biological sequestration of CO2 in the ocean". Nature. 387 (6630): 272–275. Bibcode:1997Natur.387..272F. doi:10.1038/387272a0. S2CID   4326172.
  9. ↑ Behrenfeld, M.J.; et al. (1996). "Confirmation of iron limitation of phytoplankton photosynthesis in the equatorial Pacific Ocean". Nature. 383 (6600): 508–511. Bibcode:1996Natur.383..508B. doi:10.1038/383508a0.
  10. ↑ Falkowski, P.G.; Barber, R.T.; Smetacek, V. (1998). "Biogeochemical controls and feedbacks on ocean primary production". Science. 281 (5374): 200–2006. doi:10.1126/science.281.5374.200. PMID   9660741.
  11. ↑ Falkowski, P.G. (2002). "The ocean's invisible forest - Marine phytoplankton play a critical role in regulating the earth's climate. Could they also be used to combat global warming". Sci. Am. 287 (2): 54–61. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0802-54. PMID   12140954.
  12. ↑ Marais, D.J.D.; et al. (2003). "The NASA astrobiology roadmap". Astrobiology. 3 (2): 219–235. Bibcode:2003AsBio...3..219D. doi:10.1089/153110703769016299. PMID   14577870. S2CID   54485619.
  13. ↑ Falkowski, P.G.; et al. (2004). "The evolution of modern eukaryotic phytoplankton". Science. 305 (5682): 354–360. Bibcode:2004Sci...305..354F. doi:10.1126/science.1095964. PMID   15256663. S2CID   451773.
  14. ↑ Falkowski, P.G.; et al. (2005). "The rise of oxygen over the past 205 million years and the evolution of large placental mammals" (PDF). Science. 309 (5744): 2202–2204. Bibcode:2005Sci...309.2202F. doi:10.1126/science.1116047. PMID   16195457. S2CID   30238604.
  15. ↑ Falkowski, P.G.; Raven, J.A. (2007). Aquatic Photosynthesis (2 ed.). Princeton University Press. ISBN   978-0-632-06139-6.
  16. ↑ "A.G. Huntsman Award for Excellence in Marine Science; Past Recipient, Dr. Paul Falkowski (1998)". A.G. Huntsman Foundation. 1998. Archived from the original on 2011-07-26. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  17. ↑ "G. Evelyn Hutchinson Award". American Society of Limnology and Oceanography. 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-08-28. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  18. ↑ "Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky Medal 2005". European Geosciences Union. 2005. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  19. ↑ "ECI Prize Laureates and Their Major Scientific Achievements". Inter-Research Science Center. Retrieved 2013-05-14.
  20. ↑ Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement
  21. ↑ James McCarthy (oceanographer)
  22. ↑ "Tyler Prize Honors Two Leaders in Marine and Climate Science".
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