Biofilms are a form of collective life with emergent properties that confer many advantages
on their inhabitants, and they represent a much higher level of organization than single cells …

Marine dissolved organic matter (DOM) contains more carbon than the combined stocks of
Earth's biota. Organisms in the ocean continuously release a myriad of molecules that …

The ocean is a key component of the Earth system (Chapter 1) as it provides essential life
supporting services (Inniss et al. 2017). For example, it stores heat trapped in the …

A census of the biomass on Earth is key for understanding the structure and dynamics of the
biosphere. However, a global, quantitative view of how the biomass of different taxa …

Despite accounting for a significant portion of the Earth's prokaryotic biomass, controls on
the abundance and biodiversity of microorganisms residing in the continental subsurface …

In this paper we review the technologies available to make globally quantitative
observations of particles in general—and plankton in particular—in the world oceans, and …

Biotic and abiotic surfaces in marine waters are rapidly colonized by microorganisms.
Surface colonization and subsequent biofilm formation and development provide numerous …

The deep sea, the largest ocean's compartment, drives planetary-scale biogeochemical
cycling. Yet, the functional exploration of its microbial communities lags far behind other …

The “biological pump” is the process by which photosynthetically-produced organic matter in
the ocean descends from the surface layer to depth by a combination of sinking particles …

Microbes are dominant drivers of biogeochemical processes, yet drawing a global picture of
functional diversity, microbial community structure, and their ecological determinants …