Rutgers Expert Available to Discuss Viral ‘Pandemics’ in Oceans

New Brunswick, N.J. (April 6, 2021) – Rutgers University–New Brunswick microbial oceanographer Kay D. Bidle is available for interviews on the persistent and profound impact of viral infections on algae in the oceans. These infections influence the Earth’s carbon cycle, which helps moderate climate change.

“Viral infections have a persistent and powerful impact on Earth’s biological organisms and ecosystems, including in the oceans. The global COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated the harm viruses can cause, and COVID-19 has transformed how society thinks about viruses,” said Kay D. Bidle, a professor and microbial oceanographer in the Department of Marine and Coastal Sciences in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences at Rutgers University–New Brunswick and Rutgers’ Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. “Viral ‘pandemics’ are frequent in the oceans, causing phytoplankton (algal) populations to wax and wane weekly and over predictable cycles. These widespread viral infections, which span hundreds of thousands of square miles (the size of large states) and are detectable by Earth observing satellites, have a profound impact on Earth’s carbon cycle, dictating whether carbon is transported to the deep ocean and sequestered for hundreds to thousands of years or whether it remains in the surface ocean and available to enter the atmosphere as carbon dioxide. Viruses inherently influence the oceans’ ability to store carbon dioxide in the face of climate change.”

“The ‘arms races’ that rage between viruses and the microscopic algal cells they infect play a critical role in the Earth’s carbon cycle,” Bidle added. “And they likely have been doing so for at least hundreds of millions of years, based on molecular and fossil evidence of the presence of these algae in the oceans.”

To interview Bidle, contact Todd Bates at [email protected]

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Broadcast interviews: Rutgers University has broadcast-quality TV and radio studios available for remote live or taped interviews with Rutgers experts. For more information, contact John Cramer at [email protected]

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Rutgers University–New Brunswick is where Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, began more than 250 years ago. Ranked among the world’s top 60 universities, Rutgers’s flagship is a leading public research institution and a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. It has an internationally acclaimed faculty, 12 degree-granting schools and the Big Ten Conference’s most diverse student body.

 

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