Olivia Mason
Florida State University, FL·Earth & Environmental Science
In parts of the ocean where oxygen runs low, microbes take over the nitrogen cycle, the chain of chemical changes that moves this nutrient through living things. Their activity can strip usable nitrogen from the sea and release nitrous oxide (N2O), a powerful greenhouse gas that also destroys ozone.
- Fields
Earth & Environmental Science
Microbiology & Immunology
Ecology & Evolution
- Topics
nitrous oxide
nitrogen cycle
oxygen minimum zones
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Test whether SUP05 sulfur-oxidizing bacteria include distinct cell types that perform different nitrogen-respiring steps in oxygen minimum zone fjords, using DNA and RNA sequencing, cultivation and isotope rate measurements.
- Determine how phage infection, through cell death, rewiring of infected virocells or phage-carried metabolic genes, shapes whether fixed nitrogen accumulates or is lost from oxygen minimum zones.
- Map nitrous oxide production rates and mechanisms across an oxygen gradient in the northern Benguela Upwelling System using 15N tracer experiments and natural isotope and isotopomer analyses.
- Link dissolved oxygen levels to microbial community structure and active N2O-producing pathways using 16S rRNA gene, metagenome and metatranscriptome sequencing, and model the resulting isotope patterns.
- Quantify nitrous oxide flux between seafloor sediments and the water column in the Benguela system and how oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, nutrients and organic matter control it.
- Resolve how bacteria, archaea, fungi and other microbial eukaryotes contribute to sediment N2O production and consumption by combining multi-isotope mass balance with metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data.
More about the research
These low-oxygen regions, called oxygen minimum zones (OMZs) or oxygen deficient zones, are hotspots of N2O emission. Yet scientists cannot yet predict how much they release, partly because the microbes and pathways involved are poorly known. This research combines DNA and RNA sequencing of microbial communities with chemical and isotope measurements to link specific microbes to the nitrogen changes they cause, in the open water, in seafloor sediments and in fjords.
Why it matters
Low-oxygen ocean regions release nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas that also damages the ozone layer, and they remove large amounts of usable nitrogen from the sea. Identifying which microbes and viruses drive these processes, and under what conditions, could improve models that predict future ocean greenhouse gas emissions as ocean conditions change.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Collaborative Research: Quantifying nitrous oxide sources across an oxygen gradient in the northern Benguela upwelling system
NSF · Sep 2021 – Aug 2027
Collaborative Research: The effects of SUP05 cells and virocells on nitrogen cycling in marine oxygen minimum zones
NSF · Jun 2024 – May 2027
Collaborative Research: Multi-isotope and microbial ecology approaches to investigate sedimentary nitrous oxide production and consumption in the northern Benguela upwelling system
NSF · Feb 2024 – Jan 2027
Closest labs
Veronica Morales
University of California-Davis, CA·Earth & Environmental Science
Test whether coupling between water flow and bacterial biofilm growth in sediment pores controls where and when oxygen-free microzones form and how reactants reach them.
Erin McParland
Oregon State University, OR·Earth & Environmental Science
Quantify about 150 small polar extracellular metabolites in seawater across four regimes that differ in biological productivity and oxygen, using new metabolomics methods.
Mark Warner
University of Washington, WA·Earth & Environmental Science
Place nitrous oxide (N2O) measurements from several GO-SHIP ocean sections on a common calibration scale, merge them with hydrographic data, and release them publicly.
The school
Florida State University: 15 labs on PI Pages, $461M a year on research, 481 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
A start for your email. Fill in the brackets.