Why Sequence a Near-Shore Anoxic Basin?
Oxygen minimum zones (OMZs; areas of low dissolved oxygen concentrations) play a major role in biogeochemical cycling within the world’s oceans. They are major sinks for nitrogen and sources for the gases carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Microbially mediated biological activity associated with these systems affects the productivity of the deep blue sea and the balance of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Thus, studies aimed at evaluating the phylogenetic variation and metabolic capacity of microbial communities within these systems have great promise to enhance our understanding of the patterns and processes that drive global biogeochemical phenomena in both aquatic and atmospheric compartments of the biosphere. To this end, JGI and its collaborators will be targeting the genomic diversity of indigenous microbial communities found in the near-shore anoxic basin of Saanich Inlet (British Columbia, Canada) with special consideration of the oxic/anoxic (oxygen/no oxygen) transition zon
