A University of Hawaii at Manoa oceanographer has been awarded a $3.79 million grant to continue and expand research on the microbial inhabitants of the world's oceans, school officials said yesterday.

Dr. David Karl received the grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. The founder of the Center for Microbial Oceanography: Research and Education at SOEST, Karl has focused his research on the ecological role of microorganisms in the oceans, ranging from the sunlit surface waters to the deep abyss.

Karl has led groundbreaking efforts to promote collaborations among the previously separate disciplines of oceanography, microbiology, ecology and genomics to better understand the sea, including its potential response to environmental variability and climate change.

The grant is in continued support of Karl to quantify solar energy capture and transduction, and to gain an improved understanding of essential bioelemental cycles and sequestration of atmospheric carbon, the school said.

Funding will be utilized to develop methods and technology to routinely measure marine microbial community structure and function, to use Seaglider technology – small free-swimming vehicles that gather data from the ocean – to survey habitat variability and to design, construct and field test a mesocosm that can be used to conduct experiments in open ocean habitats.