The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

December 15, 2018

Our new publication led by former Masters student Rob Lampe (now at UCSD) was recently published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.  In this study we show that there are multiple ways in which diatoms can store iron and that ferritin-containing diatoms such as Pseudo-nitzschia may have a competitive advantage when iron is delivered in pulsed supplies.  Our findings suggest that in areas of the ocean where iron concentrations may decline due to climate change, diatom composition could shift to ferritin-containing diatoms.

Different iron storage strategies among bloom-forming diatoms

A brief write-up about our study can be found here.