On the occasion, the director of the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO), gave the conference “When the oceans suffocate, the microbes are celebrating.” The event was organized by the Postgraduate Committee and the Dean of the Faculty of Natural and Oceanographic Sciences of the University of Concepción.
The ceremony was attended by members of the academic body and students from the four Master of Science programs of the FCNO, with mention in: Botany, Oceanography, Fisheries and Zoology. In addition to the three Doctorate programs in: Oceanography, Systematics and Biodiversity and, in Sciences with a mention in Management of Renewable Aquatic Resources (MaReA).
On the occasion, the academic of the Department of Oceanography and director of the Millennium Institute of Oceanography (IMO), Dr. Osvaldo Ulloa Quijada, gave the Keynote Lecture: “When the oceans suffocate, the microbes are celebrating.”
In his presentation, the researcher spoke about the history of oxygen on Earth, the deoxygenation of the ocean, the main oxygen minimum zones in the world ocean, the discovery of the lack of oxygen in the open sea, the distribution of waters with deficiency of oxygen in the Southeast Pacific, the oxygen minimum in relation to ocean circulation, measurements of dissolved oxygen in seawater (Winkler method), metabolic microbial diversity, OMZs as areas of loss of fixed nitrogen by denitrification and anammox , microbial abundance in anoxic waters, the cryptic sulfur cycle, the genetic expression of the microbial community reflects a vertical partition of aerobic and anaerobic metabolisms and the evolution of Oxygen deficient systems, among other topics.
Dr. Osvaldo Ulloa posed the questions: ¿How low are the oxygen levels in the oxygen minimum zones? Which are the microorganisms that live in the oxygen-deficient water column? Which are the main actors in biogeochemical cycles? And which metabolic strategies are they using?
In the keynote conference, the director of the Millennium Institute of Oceanography concluded that: “The main zones of minimum oxygen with the presence of nitrite are “anoxic marine zones”; In marine waters lacking oxygen, microorganisms dominate, and in particular sulfur-oxidizing bacteria; In anoxic marine zones there is an active (but cryptic) sulfur cycle coupled to the nitrogen cycle; and Climate Change would be leading to the expansion of oxygen-deficient areas with possible changes in their chemistry and biology in the future.”
“It is good that postgraduate students know about these important discoveries, at least in our area in Chile and that they have had a global impact. The idea is that they understand that from here they can make important scientific contributions through their theses, worldwide,” said Dr. Osvaldo Ulloa at the end of his conference. “The contribution of postgraduate students to the scientific production of our study home is key. Without them, I believe we would not be in the rankings where we currently stand,” he stressed.
The event, which took place on June 4 in the Claudio Gay auditorium of the Faculty of Natural and Oceanographic Sciences of the University of Concepción, had a positive evaluation by the president of the FCNO Postgraduate Committee, Dr. Luisa Bascuñán Godoy. “The inauguration of our faculty's postgraduate academic year has been very participatory, it had an excellent quorum of academics and students,” highlighted Dr. Luisa Bascuñán. “Dr. Osvaldo Ulloa's presentation was super interesting, since he presented a historical account of his research and with very interesting results, which motivate our graduate students to continue with a line of research that leads them to discover new paradigms, important for our contact with nature,” he added.
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