Marine microbial eukaryote ecology
We study the microbial eukaryotes that run the ocean’s carbon and nutrient cycles.
The Hu lab studies marine microeukaryotes or protists in a range of ecosystems, including the coast, oligotrophic ocean, sediment, and deep-sea hydrothermal vents at the seafloor. Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University.
Central questions
Protistan species make up the majority of branches on the eukaryotic tree of life, and their nutritional strategies are as varied as their morphology. That variety puts them at the center of marine food webs, where they mediate central routes of energy and nutrient flux. Every project in the lab starts from the same three questions.
01
Who is present?
Amplicon surveys and reference databases resolve which microeukaryotes occupy a habitat — including the deep-sea taxa that most reference databases still miss.
02
What are they doing?
Metatranscriptomics and grazing experiments distinguish phototrophy, heterotrophy, and mixotrophy in situ, rather than inferring metabolism from taxonomy alone.
03
What is their ecological role?
Grazing rates and biomass estimates place protists in the carbon budget of the ecosystems they inhabit, from the oxycline to diffuse vent fluid.
Where we work
2022 · 2023
Axial Seamount · Juan de Fuca Ridge, NE Pacific
An active submarine volcano off the Oregon coast. Diffuse vent fields inside the caldera span a range of distinct geochemistries.
2020
Mid-Cayman Rise · Von Damm & Piccard, Caribbean
Nine ROV Jason dives from RV Atlantis, including grazing incubations held at in situ pressure.
2019
Gorda Ridge · Sea Cliff & Apollo, NE Pacific
E/V Nautilus with ROV Hercules, as part of the SUBSEA ocean-worlds analog program.
2023 - present
Gulf of Mexico · Gulf Coast to offshore
Annual student training cruises to the Northern Gulf of Mexico.
monthly, 15+ years
San Pedro Ocean Time-series · Southern California
Surface to 880 m, sampled monthly — long enough to resolve seasonal and annual community turnover.
30+ years
Station ALOHA · North Pacific Subtropical Gyre
Hawaii Ocean Time-series, plus diel sampling every 4 hours following a single parcel of water.
