Contact

Mag. Dr. Thomas Reinthaler
Djerassiplatz 1
1030 Vienna
T: +43-1-4277-76432
thomas.reinthaler@univie.ac.at

Member of

What is it about?

They are invisible to the naked eye, yet they are everywhere. With microscopy and special staining techniques, we can reveal microbes measuring just one micrometer or less, and what we find is astonishing.

A single cubic centimeter of seawater typically contains more than one million of these microscopic organisms. Scaled up to the global ocean, which covers 71% of Earth’s surface, their numbers become almost incomprehensible. But sheer abundance is only part of the story: microbes are also biochemical engines, continuously converting dissolved organic carbon into living biomass and carbon dioxide. This makes them one of the most consequential biological forces on the planet.

We have learned a great deal about what microbes do in the ocean, but we are only beginning to understand how they do it. Unraveling the intricacies of their ecology is not merely an academic exercise. It is a prerequisite for understanding, and ultimately predicting, how our climate will change in the decades ahead.

My Current Project

The project is funded by the FWF and embedded in a research group coordinated by Oliver Wurl from the ICBM at the University of Oldenburg.

Other Projects Involved

NEREIDES

Neutrally Buoyant Particles in the Deep Sea: Turnover, Origin and Global Impact on the Marine Carbon Cycle

DEPOCA

Shedding light on dark ocean’s detrital particles – origin, composition and age

Funded by the FWF and led by Gerhard J. Herndl from the University of Vienna.