C-DEBI Newsletter – March 2, 2020

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C-DEBI: Nominations now open for the 2020 Networked Speaker Series – NEW!
C-DEBI seeks nominations for three speakers for the 2020 program. C-DEBI is continuing the Networked Speaker Series (begun in Fall 2011) as a means to enhance communication and the exchange of ideas among our spatially distributed community. Potential speakers can be nominated by colleagues, mentors, or those mentored by C-DEBI participants; they can also self nominate. Selected C-DEBI Networked Speakers will make a presentation online, using video conferencing tools, with assistance from the C-DEBI main office at USC. Nominated C-DEBI Networked Speakers should be capable of combining compelling visual materials with the ability to communicate effectively to a broad audience. We are particularly enthusiastic about giving young researchers a chance to present work to the C-DEBI community. Being selected to be a C-DEBI Networked Speaker is an honor.

USC: 17th Annual Southern California Geobiology Symposium
Abstract submission and registration will close on March 4, 2020.

NOAA: Ocean Mapping of the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone and the Shoreline & Nearshore of Alaska: Input Requested – NEW!
In November 2019, the President issued a Memorandum related to ocean mapping activities. The original memo is available here. Subsequently, two notices were published in the Federal Register requesting information from the public relating to Section 2, National Strategy for Mapping, Exploring and Characterizing the U.S. EEZ, and Section 4, Efficient Permitting of Mapping Exploring and Characterization. The Ocean Policy Committee is soliciting public input through these RFIs to obtain information from a wide range of stakeholders, including academia, private industry, and other relevant organizations and institutions, in order to inform the Ocean Policy Committee as it prepares to identify these opportunities and develop recommended actions. Comments are required prior to March 12, 2020.

IODP-USSSP: New 2050 Science Framework open for community comment – NEW!
We are arriving at an important benchmark in our planning for future scientific ocean drilling and present the first version of the 2050 Science Framework, entitled Exploring Earth Through Scientific Ocean Drilling, now ready for your examination and peer review. This new 2050 Science Framework has a 25-year outlook to 2050, inspiring state-of-the-art approaches for scientific ocean drilling far into the mid-21st century. Foundational Earth science research is described in seven Strategic Objectives and five Flagship Initiatives that encourage innovation and new discoveries. The major objective of scientific ocean drilling is to advance our understanding of Earth as an interconnected system through multi-disciplinary and societally-relevant collaborative research endeavors. As the structure and roadmap to produce this framework were previously reviewed via online community postings on IODP.org in August 2019 and endorsed by the IODP Forum in September 2019, we are at this stage primarily seeking input from the international science community on the framework’s scientific merit, accuracy, and completeness, so that each chapter strongly conveys the aspirations for future scientific ocean drilling through 2050. Please review the document and respond before March 15, 2020.

AGU: Nominate Your Peers for 2020 Honors
Nominations are now open for 2020 AGU honors, including the Asahiko Taira International Scientific Ocean Drilling Research Prize. Deadline: March 15, 2020.

GRS: Carbon at the Intersection of the Biosphere and Geosphere, June 27-28, Lewiston, ME, USA – NEW!
The Gordon Research Seminar on Deep Carbon Science is a unique forum for graduate students, post-docs, and other scientists with comparable levels of experience and education to present and exchange new data and cutting edge ideas. The focus of this meeting is “Carbon at the Intersection of the Biosphere and Geosphere.” This GRS aims to bring together early-career scientists from traditionally non-intersecting fields to explore the sources, cycling, and geologic history of carbon on Earth and beyond. We particularly welcome abstracts describing multi-disciplinary approaches aiming to improve our understanding of carbon in the context of Earth’s interior, prebiotic building blocks and the evolution of life, geologic history, and the nature of carbon elsewhere in the solar system and beyond. Applications for this meeting must be submitted by May 30, 2020. Any applicants who wish to be considered for an oral presentation should submit their application by March 27, 2020.

ISSM 2020: Call for poster abstracts
The deadline for submitting poster abstracts (oral presentation abstract submissions are now closed) is March 31, 2020.

UDE: Hydrocarbon degradation in oil reservoirs and aquifers, July 20-22, Germany – NEW!
Biodegradation is one of the most important in situ processes determining the quality of oil in conventional and unconventional reservoirs or hydrocarbon attenuation in contaminated aquifers. Moreover, microbial processes such as methanogenesis, sulfate reduction, and biofilm formation have significant direct or indirect impacts on oil recovery. Despite these effects, there is yet a significant gap of knowledge about the activity and dynamics of microbial communities in oil reservoirs and hydrocarbon contaminated sites. The topics of interest include but are not limited to mechanisms of anaerobic biodegradation of hydrocarbons, ecology of hydrocarbon degrading microbial communities, food webs and nutrient recycling, degradation processes and controlling environmental factors, and identity-function relationships in microbial communities. This conference is expected to provide better insights into the ecology of oil-degrading microbial communities and develop future research directions in the field. The deadline for registration and abstract submission is April 1, 2020.

Microenergy 2020: 4th International Workshop on Microbial life under extreme energy limitation, September 7-11, Sandbjerg Manor, Denmark
At several hundred meters below our feet or below the sea floor, the energy flux and the theoretical growth rate of bacteria are orders of magnitude below anything we can understand from research on cultivated microorganisms. Studies of the carbon and energy turnover deep beneath the seafloor and in the terrestrial subsurface indicate that the prokaryotic cells living here subsist at an energy flux that barely allows cell growth over tens to thousands of years. It remains unexplained whether the organisms have properties beyond our current understanding of microbial life and whether these organisms in fact represent the predominant mode of microbial life on our planet – or whether energy sources may be available that have not yet been identified. The limits of microbial life and the exploration of the biological demand for energy is the focus of the International Workshop on Microbial Life under Extreme Energy Limitation (co-sponsored by C-DEBI), held 7-11 September at Sandbjerg Manor near Sønderborg, Denmark. We invite researchers and students from different relevant disciplines to participate in the workshop in order to discuss microbial energy requirements and stimulate new thinking and new approaches. The deadline for abstract submissions is April 1, 2020.

GRC: Exploring Fluxes, Forms and Origins of Deep Carbon in Earth and Other Terrestrial Planets, June 28-July 3, 2020, Lewiston, ME, USA
Applications for this meeting must be submitted by May 31, 2020.

Serpentine Days: 5th Workshop, September 21-24, Sestri Levante (Genova, Italy)
Registration will close June 30, 2020.

UNOLS: Science in the Abyss Workshops

Ongoing Activities:

• C-DEBI: Rolling call for Community Workshop support
• C-DEBI: Protocols.io Group Page
• C-DEBI: Subseafloor Cultures Database
• C-DEBI: Join us on LinkedIn

Education & Outreach

 

Best, 

 

Matt

 

— 

Matthew Janicak

Data Manager

Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI)

Exploring life beneath the seafloor and making transformative discoveries that advance science, benefit society, and inspire people of all ages and origins.

C-DEBI is now on Twitter! Follow and tweet to us @deepbiosphere or tag #CDEBI.