Microbial Ecologist

Romberg Tiburon Center
and
Department of Biology

(415) 338-3732

ecarpent@sfsu.edu

online.sfsu.edu/~ecarpent

Research Interests

Our group has several major interests. One concerns nitrogen fixation in the sea. We work in tropical and subtropical waters on the biology and ecology of nitrogen fixation in marine planktonic cyanobacteria. We are attempting to determine factors that limit phytoplankton growth, as well as to understand the role of a species as a primary producer. This research requires a field program to collect phytoplankton and environmental data, and laboratory studies on species in culture. Other local research concerns studying the food web of a threatened fish in the San Francisco Bay Delta and understanding of nutrient cycling in Bay Area wetlands as it affects restoration efforts.

Lastly, we have been investigating causes of blooms of harmful marine phytoplankton in coastal and estuarine waters. Proposed research involves 1) a gene expression study of how ocean acidification would affect a calcifying marine phytoplankton species, 2) microbial activity in the hyporheic zone of Antarctic Dry Valley glacial melt water streams, 3) Saharan aeolian dust and its effect on plankton processes in the equatorial Atlantic and 4) influence of the Amazon River outflow on plankton productivity of the equatorial Atlantic Ocean.

 Selected Papers

Campbell, L. E.J. Carpenter, J.P. Montoya, A.B. Kustka, & D.G. Capone. 2005. Picoplankton community structure within and outside a Trichodesmium bloom in the southwestern Pacific Ocean . Vie et Milieu. 55:185-195.

Capone, D.G., J.A. Burns, C. Mahaffey, A.F. Michaels, J.P. Montoya, A. Subramaniam & E.J. Carpenter. Nitrogen fixation by Trichodesmium spp.: An important source of new nitrogen to the tropical North Atlantic Ocean . Global Biogeochem. Cycles, 19, p 1029.

Carpenter, E.J., A. Subramaniam & D.G. Capone. Biomass and primary productivity of the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium spp. in the tropical N Atlantic Ocean . Deep-Sea-Res. I 51:173-203.

Falcón, L., E.J. Carpenter, F. Cipriano, B. Bergman & D.G. Capone. N2 fixation by unicellular Bacterioplankton from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans: Phylogeny and in situ rates. Appl. Envir. Microbiol 70:765-770.

Falcón, L., S. Lindvall, K. Bauer, B. Bergman & E.J. Carpenter. Ultrastructure of unicellular N2 fixing cyanobacteria from the tropical North Atlantic Ocean and subtropical North Pacific Oceans . J. Phycol. 40:1074-1078.

Falcón, L., S. Pluvinage & E.J. Carpenter. Growth kinetics of marine unicellular N2 fixing cyanobacterial isolates in continuous culture in relation to phosphorus and temperature. Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser. 285: 3-9.

Hewson, I. , S.R. Govil, D.G. Capone, E.J. Carpenter, & J.A. Fuhrman. Evidence of Trichodesmium viral lysis and potential significance for biogeochemical cycling in the oligotrophic ocean. Aquatic Microbial Ecology. 36:1-8.

Lin, S., M.R. Mulholland, H. Zang, T.N. Feinstein, F.J. Jochem & E.J. Carpenter. Intense grazing and prey-dependent growth of Pfiesteria piscicida (Dinophyceae). J. Phycology 40:1062-1073.

Sañudo-Wilhelmy, S., A. Tovar-Sanchez, F. Fu, D.G. Capone, E.J. Carpenter, & D.A. Hutchins. The impact of surface adsorbed phosphorus on phytoplankton Redfield stoichiometry. Nature 432: 897-901.

Shipe, R.F., J. Curatz, A. Subramaniam, E.J. Carpenter, & D.G. Capone. Diatom biomass and productivity in oceanic and plume-influenced waters of the western tropical Atlantic Ocean. Deep-Sea Res. I.