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First name:Torben
Last name:Stuehrmann
Country:Germany
Thesis Subject:
Microbial characterization of different water column regimes in the Namibian upwelling system
Education:
1996
A-Levels
"Schulzentrum Im Holter Feld", Bremen, Germany
2003
Diploma in Microbiology, University of Bremen, Germany
since 2003
PhD candidate of the International Max Planck Research School of Marine Microbiology (MarMic), Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany
2005
Microbial Diversity course, Marine Biological Laboratory (Woods Hole, USA)
Scientific Interests and Goals:
The coastal upwelling region off south-western Africa is one of the most productive provinces of the world oceans. The primary production in the upwelling region of Namiba is several hundred grams of carbon per square meter per year in the Walvis Bay off Namibia. Moreover, fish production in Namibian offshore region was more than 600 million tons in 2003. The Namibian upwelling is also characterized by low oxygen concentrations at the bottom, so called oxygen minimum zones (OMZ). Extensive respiration in the water column leads to a decline or even depletion of oxygen near the seabed. Due to high sulphate reduction in the sediment H2S is accumulating in the lower water column which severely affects the pelagic ecosystem.
The current topic of my work is to study the structural and the functional microbial composition in varying regimes of the water column. A focus in this study is the identification of dominant populations involved in the formation and degradation of hydrogen sulphide and the response of the microbial community structure during seasonal sulphur blooms.
Selected Publications:
1. Gade, D., Stührmann, T., Reinhard, R. and Rabus, R.. Growth phase/cycle dependent regulation of protein composition in Rhodopirellula baltica. 2005 Environmental Microbiology (8) 1074–1084

2. Lavik G., Stührmann, T., Mohrholz, V., Reißmann, J., Siegel, H., Van der Plas, A., Fuchs, B., Brüchert, V., Amann, R., Lass, U. & M. Kuypers. Sulfidic shelf waters off southwest Africa: remote forcing and biological response. 2006 (in prep.)