In January 2014, when I first visited the Yantai Institute of Coastal Research, I was very impressed by the quality of the researchers and laboratories. When, 18 months later, I received the mail form informing me about the PIFI fellowship, I was surprised and honoured: Although I was not exactly on the same scientific background and objectives as most of the researchers they were interested in my work. The two challenges of studying at the frontier of its familiar competence domain and with researchers of different culture was extremely appealing. I accepted to take this risky opportunity, because I have always though important discoveries are to be made when such challenges are taken. My enthusiasm increased even further when I arrived in Yantai. Rapidly I got adopted at the Yantai Institute of Coastal Research and I succeeded in sharing my interest on the great importance of the calcareous phytoplankton in the ocean carbon cycle. A few of us rapidly developed a plan to collect those microscopic algae in the northern shores of Shandong province. A PhD student, one colleague and I collected at different locations.

Preparing sample after collection (Image from Yantai Institute of Coastal Research, CAS)

The collected water was observed on different microscopes (optical with polarised light, fluorescent light, and on Scanning Electron Microscope).

The diversity of those samples is very different from the rest of the world ocean, because the dominant species are absent, and rare taxa are dominant. This is particularly strange when we know that this taxa is so numerous elsewhere that it can be detected by satellite imagery and that it precipitates more than half of the oceanic calcium carbonate.

The reason of this has to be found. We started to culture several strains in Yantai at different pH.

During the lectures in Yantai on the importance of calcareous phytoplankton in the carbon cycle, important discussions and exchanges of ideas were possible.

Taking notes during sample collection in RongChengChudao (Image from Yantai Institute of Coastal Research, CAS)

The combination of studies from different scientific fields such as biology (including culturing, genetics) and micropaleontology (taxonomy, biometry) produced some nice scientific sparks that enlighten our understanding of the carbon cycle. We are now finishing writing those results in a manuscript that will be submitted soon to Nature.

My collaboration with the Yantai Institute of Coastal Research was extremely fruitful in both scientific and personal aspects. This collaboration will be definitely one of the important milestones of my career. I am now keen to find a way to continue this collaboration between my laboratory in France (I am head of the biotracer team at CEREGE in Aix en Provence) and Yantai Institute of Coastal Research.

Source: CAS