Living on the edge
Dr. Pete Countway of Bigelow Laboratory, center, Dr. Shawn Polson of the University of Delaware, left, and submersible pilot Mark Spear of Woods Hole Oceanographic, right, aboard the Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin during a dive to 2,000 meters at the Guaymas Basin hydrothermal vent field in the Gulf of California. Courtesy of Pete Countway.
Dr. Pete Countway of Bigelow Laboratory, center, Dr. Shawn Polson of the University of Delaware, left, and submersible pilot Mark Spear of Woods Hole Oceanographic, right, aboard the Deep Submergence Vehicle Alvin during a dive to 2,000 meters at the Guaymas Basin hydrothermal vent field in the Gulf of California. Courtesy of Pete Countway.
Bigelow marine microbial ecologist Dr. Pete Countway will lead the Laboratory’s July 23 Café Scientifique conversation, titled “Living on the Edge: Microbial Communities in the Ocean’s Extreme Environments,” beginning at 6 p.m. in the Boothbay Harbor Opera House at 86 Townsend Avenue in Boothbay Harbor.
Countway will discuss new findings that are emerging about the role of deep-sea microbial life in the world’s ocean. This is the fourth in the series of nine CaféScientifique events scheduled for this summer.
“My research combines work in marine microbial diversity, ecology and physiology using molecular and genomic techniques,” Countway said. “I’m primarily focused on protists, the smallest organisms whose cells contain a nucleus, particularly protist communities living in extreme ocean environments like the deep sea floor and the water column surrounding underwater hydrothermal vents.
“Advances in single cell genomics and DNA sequencing are making it possible for us ask questions about how the diversity in marine microbial communities, like the ones in extreme habitats, changes in response to changing environmental conditions, and the role these 'extremophiles' may have in supporting ocean health.”
Countway is senior research scientist in the Bigelow Marine Microbial Ecology Laboratory, which analyzes DNA sequence data from large-scale, multi-institutional metagenomic studies to compare the extent of protistan diversity from a variety of ecosystems distributed throughout the world’s oceans.
He came to Bigelow Laboratory in 2010 from the University of Southern California, where he earned a doctorate in biology and worked as part of a research team studying biological controls on ecosystem functions.
He has participated in over 50 oceanographic expeditions, including work in the Sargasso Sea, the Gulf Stream, the Arabian Sea, and the Ross Sea near Antarctica, in addition to taking part in four deep-sea dives in the manned research submersible Alvin.
Café Scientifique talks are free and open to the public, with beer, wine, and sodas available for purchase. The complete 2013 summer Café Scientifique program is available on the Laboratory’s website.
Event Date
Address
86 Townsend Ave.
Boothbay Harbor, ME
United States
