Session Lead: Sairah Malkin, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

Co-Lead(s): Isabel Baker

Session Format: Oral presentations

Session Description: 

Molecular biology, genetics, and genomics tools have become indispensable for identifying and understanding ecological processes in aquatic systems, from biogeochemical cycling and pathogen dynamics to species distributions and ecosystem responses to environmental change. The Chesapeake Bay has served as a testbed for foundational studies in biogeochemical cycling including understanding the foundational associations between nutrient loading and deoxygenation in coastal systems. A particularly transformative frontier lies in connecting our rapidly growing molecular datasets with biogeochemical models, arguably representing one of the greatest opportunities to advance our mechanistic and predictive understanding of the Chesapeake Bay. Where molecular patterns show strong relationships with environmental variables, they suggest predictive potential and may help constrain existing models or reveal missing processes. Conversely, models can provide testable hypotheses for molecular ecologists about which genes, taxa, or pathways should respond to specific environmental conditions.

This session aims to bring together researchers employing molecular approaches to study Chesapeake Bay ecosystems. We welcome contributions spanning diverse applications, including but not limited to: microbial community dynamics, biogeochemical transformations, pathogen ecology, harmful algal bloom ecology, species distribution and biodiversity, climate change responses, and pollution impacts. We particularly encourage presentations that explore opportunities for integrating molecular data with other observational or modeling approaches, as well as those highlighting methodological innovations or novel applications of existing tools. We intend for this session to provide a forum to bring together members of the Chesapeake Bay research community using ‘omics tools to foster collaborations and explore new approaches. We especially encourage submission from early career scientists including students.

Presentations (Session 23 Abstracts)

  1. Feng Chen, Changfei He, Judith M. O’Neil, Nianzhi Jiao: Chesapeake Bay metagenomes across broad organisms and spatio-temporal scales
  2. Clara A. Fuchsman, Michael E. Kalinowski, Jacob A. Cram, Sairah Y. Malkin: Examining Metagenomics Across Particle Size and Redox Gradients in Chesapeake Bay
  3. Isabel Baker, Kalev Hantsoo, Anna Hildebrand, Alexandria Flynn, Sairah Malkin, Laura Lapham, and Maya Gomes: Microbial methane sinks are insufficient under continued eutrophication in the Chesapeake Bay
  4. Michael E. Kalinowski, Clara A. Fuchsman, Carol Kim, Sairah Y. Malkin: The Bottom Water Oxygen Impacts on Downcore Sulfur Cycling in Chesapeake Bay Sediments Inferred using Metagenomics
  5. Anand Gnanadesikan, Rui Jin: How does including heterotrophic bacteria in a biogeochemical model change the simulation of biogeochemical cycling?
  6. Anne Baldino, Dr. Tsvetan Bachvaroff: Deciphering the Functional Capacity of Chesapeake Bay Microbes through Long-Read Sequencing
  7. Jenna Lee: Drivers of temporal co-occurrence patterns and microeukaryote community dynamics in a multispecies diatom bloom
  8. William F. Schroer, Shaochen Fan, Sarah P. Preheim: Quantitative sequencing coupled with dilution experiments reveals taxa specific growth and mortality rates in aquatic microbial communities
  9. Alex Flynn, Dr. Isabel Baker, Dr. William Schroer, Dr. Maya Gomes, Dr. Sarah Preheim: Characterizing Microbial Communities of Baltimore Harbor’s Pistachio Tide
  10. Sairah Malkin, Emily Brownlee, Alex Burns, Jacob Cram, Clara Fuchsman, Xiaoxu Guo, Jamie Pierson, Louis Plough, Greg Silsbe: Weekly eDNA Monitoring Captures Multi-Trophic Seasonal Dynamics and Emerging Interannual Variability: 125 Weeks from the PhytoChop Observatory
  11. Katrina M Pagenkopp Lohan, Emma M. Palmer, Calli Wise, Hannah Brunelle, Robert Aguilar, Andrew Davinack, Patricia Santos-Ciminera, Ruth DiMaria, Matthew Ogburn: Hidden Connections: Uncovering Complex Trophic Networks Through DNA Metabarcoding