Seminar: Monday, April 10, 2023

Please join us Monday April 10 at 12:40 pm for the UGA Department of Marine Sciences seminar. Dr. Avishek Dutta, an Assistant Professor in the UGA Department of Geology and Savannah River Ecology Lab, will present his work entitled Understanding life in the deep dark biosphere. If anyone would like to meet with the speaker after the talk, please email Dr. Meile to set up a meeting (cmeile@uga.edu).

Abstract:

The Earth’s subsurface environment is hot, oligotrophic, and limited by several physical and chemical constraints for life, yet it harbors a significant proportion of the Earth’s biomass. Exploration of microbial life in such extreme habitats represents one of the most intriguing sectors with enormous opportunities for reconnoitering the evolution and adaptation of life on our planet and beyond. In spite of considerable research attention, the deep biosphere is still counted among the “least known frontiers of Earth.” Despite the harsh conditions in terms of lack of readily utilizable energy and nutrient sources, extreme pressure and temperature, limited space, and fluid mobility, microbial life has been observed across diverse subsurface environments. It is interesting to note that the inhabitant microorganisms of such extreme habitats not only evolve striking adaptive strategies to sustain their living but may also require those conditions for their survival. Even though subsurface environments are one of the least accessible environments on our planet, human activity alters these environments, which have different short-term and long-term implications. Thus, it becomes imperative to understand how microbiomes shape the subsurface environments and how human activities alter these deep microbiomes.

The Zoom link for those of you joining from your computers will be https://zoom.us/j/97461643834. Marine Sciences Room 239 and the Skidaway Auditorium will either host the speaker or have a live feed of the talk.