Money for new knowledge about cyanobacteria

Malin Olofsson, researcher at the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, SLU, has received two grants to conduct research on cyanobacteria in the Bothnian Sea. In fall, Malin received a grant from Åforsk to restore her Sweden-based research on cyanobacteria after two years as a postdoc in the USA. Recently, Malin received a BalticWaters2030 grant which allows her to expand the scope of sampling. She will start using both grants during the summer of 2022.

What are you going to investigate?

-  I have previously worked with environmental monitoring of cyanobacteria together with SMHI. Then we saw that the number of cyanobacteria increased in the Bothnian Sea and we made calculations on how much nitrogen the cyanobacteria were assumed to take up from the atmosphere and add to the sea. This time, I'll go there and measure to see if it's really true. My interest is mainly directed towards the large types of cyanobacteria, the ones you can see with the naked eye.

When cyanobacteria are mentioned in the media, it is often in connection with algal blooms near the coasts as they affect the public to a greater extent. Therefore, they do not always have such a good reputation, however, Malin underlines how important cyanobacteria are:

-  There are a lot of different species and they all act a little different. Not all are poisonous, in the Bothnian Sea there are not as many of the poisonous varieties as further south in the Baltic Sea. Cyanobacteria are thought to have existed since life began on Earth, adding oxygen to the atmosphere. As long as they don’t increase too much, it isn’t necessarily negative they increase in number because they contribute with nitrogen and oxygen, and thus they contribute to the system during periods of the year when nitrogen is limiting.

What makes research on cyanobacteria in the Bothnian Sea so attractive?

-  There is quite a lot of research on cyanobacteria around the world, but the Bothnian Sea and the Baltic Sea are so unique with the brackish water that is a precondition to the very special species living there. In addition, the Bothnian Sea is generally very little researched when it comes to cyanobacteria because it has not been considered a favorable environment.

The method that Malin uses in her research means that she will be able to determine how much nitrogen fixation each species of the cyanobacteria contributes to as she will be able to study one cell at a time. With the method, it is also possible to examine how much other surrounding bacteria that get part of the nitrogen.

It is possible to follow Malin's journey which takes place 1 - 5 August. She will be on board the research vessel KBV 181, whose position can be followed on the website MarineTraffic.