Dzikrina Nur Fatima

Phytoplankton growth in oligotrophic Lake Constance is mainly limited by the availability of phosphorus.  In addition to inorganic phosphate, organophosphonates can be nutritional sources of phosphorus to microorganisms. However, the impact of organophosphonates degradation by bacteria in sustaining microbial growth and that of higher trophic levels in Lake Constance has not been well-characterized. The project aims at understanding bacterial organophosphonates degradation and how this additional phosphorus is entering the planktonic food web. The research will include enrichment, isolation and characterization of environmental bacteria from Lake Constance that are able to utilize natural and xenobiotic organophosphonates such as ciliatine and glyphosate, respectively. A chemostat experiments involving these bacteria in combination with bacteriovorous flagellates and algae will also be carried out to understand the mobilization of these phosphorus to higher trophic level.