Secrets from the deep

Violent bursts of organic matter from dying organisms, continuous showers of “marine snow” from the upper layers of a water column, and nutrients leaking from creatures so tiny they are invisible to the naked eye: this is the mysterious, microscopic world of our oceans.

One drop of seawater contains a world teeming with a million microbes that, when viewed under powerful microscopes, looks like a veritable feeding frenzy worthy of a Mad Hatter’s tea party.

A major research project led by the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) will use novel technologies to study this secret world, transforming the way we understand oceans.  The project will have a particular emphasis on the relationships between the ocean’s microscopic plants and marine bacteria.

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