What parasites of phytoplankton is about?

Phytoplankton blooms arising from eutrophication have been studied extensively, and yet the process of bloom formation and demise remains enigmatic. A significant portion of the carbon fixed in phytoplankton biomass enters the aquatic food web through their interactions with parasites including viruses and zoosporic eukaryotes such as chytrid fungi. Parasites also modulate the phytoplankton succession and fate in the food web and therefore have a great impact on lake ecosystem services. This project will study the impact of parasitic interactions on phytoplankton population and freshwater phytoplankton bloom control. I will develop model systems by isolating phytoplankton and their respective viruses and chytrids to tease apart the functional basis of these interactions. A novel in-situ holobiont recruitment microcosm that closely mimics natural conditions will be used to study the functional response to infection at genome resolution by focusing on a single phytoplankton population at a time. This project will answer two key questions: 

(Q1)How do the phytoplankton and their associated microbiota respond to gradual phytoplankton collapse along the infection cycle of parasitic viruses and chytrids?

(Q2)What functional responses are involved in regulating the infection process and how do phytoplankton populations evade parasites? 

Studying these parasitic processes enable us to understand large-scale ecological and biogeochemical events during phytoplankton blooms.