In July, a group of 13 international undergraduate and graduate students traveled to the ASU BIOS campus to participate in the first-ever Marine Molecular Ecology (MME) Summer Course. Participants learned how to utilize molecular and genomic approaches to address and discuss complex scientific questions, focusing on microbial communities in Bermuda’s mangrove ecosystems. 

Oceans are critical to stabilizing the world’s climate, absorbing a quarter of all carbon dioxide emissions and capturing 90 percent of the excess heat they generate. By some estimates, the ocean also accounts for up to half the annual emissions of another greenhouse gas – nitrous oxide (N2O), the third most important climate emission after carbon dioxide and methane. With the climate changing amid record high atmospheric levels of all three gases, the importance of the marine nitrogen cycle is ripe for study.