ERC Starting Grant 2023 – SIESTA Project

James Bradley, Research Fellow at the Mediterranean Institute of Oceanography (MIO)

The role of microbial dormancy as an ecological and biogeochemical regulator on Earth

Microbial life has proliferated throughout geological time, surviving long and extreme environmental changes, including global ice ages lasting millions of years, and radical shifts in the Earth's climate and geography. Microorganisms use dormancy, a reversible state of reduced metabolic activity, to persist and tolerate adverse changes in their environment. Dormant organisms withdraw from the current environment and become part of a seed bank that will contribute to the diversity and function of future ecosystems. However, we lack fundamental knowledge about the prevalence, triggers and timescales of dormancy, and how these factors affect ecosystems and elemental balances. The SIESTA project funded by this European grant aims to understand the prevalence and role of microbial dormancy as an ecological and biogeochemical regulator on Earth, and will thus provide a better understanding of how life manages to thrive throughout global change and drives planetary evolution.

Source : https://www.provence-corse.cnrs.fr/fr/personne/james-bradley