Clarissa Karthäuser
I am a marine microbiologist, studying marine snow and other things that sink and floats through the ocean. Welcome to my webpage, where I share some of my discoveries and projects.
Small-scale incubations on particles and small organisms: I invented and built a rotating incubator to quantify oxygen respiration and nitrogen cycling measurements in diverse small, suspended samples to understand their unique ecology.
Microscopic analyses: I characterize particle ecosystems by adapting methods like DNA sequencing, barcoding and metagenomics, element analysis and imaging techniques to the fragile small particles.
Linking microscopic to regional scales: I use underwater vision profiling to study mechanisms in carbon flux and other particle-associated processes.
RESEArch
my scientific work
I am a postdoctoral researcher at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.
Marine Snow
and Carbon Flux
Marine snow carries carbon captured at the sea surface into the ocean’s depths. I study where the carbon goes and why.
The RotoBOD
The RotoBOD is an incubator I built in collaboration with an engineer. We use it to measure oxygen consumption in marine snow and small organisms.
Marine Snow and Nitrogen-Loss
My PhD work was centered around nitrogen. Marine snow plays an important role in keeping our oceans clean by facilitating nitrogen loss.
Fieldwork
Science turned into Art
I collaborated with Boston-based artist Laurie Kaplowitz on a project about Marine Snow. Follow the journey of marine snow through the ocean in our lyric mediation and Laurie’s beautiful paintings!
Publications
RotoBOD─Quantifying Oxygen Consumption by Suspended Particles and Organisms
Karthäuser et al. 2024 -Environmental Science & Technology
This study introduces my method of keeping marine snow particles under near-natural conditions while carrying out experiments such as oxygen consumption and nitrogen cycling measurements.
Small sinking particles control anammox rates in the Peruvian Oxygen Minimum Zone
Karthäuser and Ahmerkamp et al. 2021, Nature Communications
Particle abundances correlated with anammox rates in our experiments offshore Peru, but anammox did not occur inside particles. Find out how especially small particles play a key role in supplying ammonium to this important nitrogen-loss process in our study.
Comparative genomics of a vertically transmitted thiotrophic bacterial ectosymbiont and its close free-living relative
Espada-Hinojosa and Karthäuser et al., 2023, Mol. Ecology Resources
During my masters thesis I cultivated and analyzed the genome of a sulfur-oxidizing bacterial strain and compared it to a symbiotic relative in collaboration with Monika Bright and Salvador Espada-Hinojosa, Uni Vienna.
Animal life in the shallow subseafloor crust at deep-sea hydrothermal vents
Bright and Gollner et al., 2024, Nature Communications
The most unexpected finding – while studying life around and underneath hydrothermal vents we discovered that animals do not only travel as larvae, but even live beneath the seafloor.
Review article for a general scientific magazine: “Dem Ozean geht die Luft aus“ – Clarissa Karthäuser, Christiane Schelten and Andreas Oschlies 2018, Spektrum der Wissenschaft (German version of Scientific American, was translated for French version Pour la Science)
CV
Education and academic positions
since 03/2024 Simon’s Postdoctoral Fellow in Microbial Ecology at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, advisors: Stefan Sievert and Ken Buesseler
03/2022 – 02/2024 Postdoctoral Scholar at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Ocean Twilight Zone Project, advisors: Ken Buesseler and Stefan Sievert
10/2016 – 12/2022 PhD at Max Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology, Bremen, Germany, Thesis: “Sinking particles control fixed nitrogen-loss in the Peruvian oxygen minimum zone”, advisor: Marcel Kuypers
10/2014 – 09/2016 MSc in Biological Oceanography at GEOMAR / Kiel University
Thesis: “Adaptations of a sulfur oxidizing bacterial taxon to symbiotic and free-living lifestyles”, supervised by Stefan Sievert (WHOI) and Ute Hentschel-Humeida (GEOMAR)
10/2010 – 11/2014 BSc in Biology at Kiel University
Thesis: “Accumulation of marine gel particles in an indoor mesocosm experiment and its potential effects on air-sea gas exchange”, supervised by Anja Engel (GEOMAR)
Grants, honors and awards received
07/2023 Simon’s Postdoctoral Fellowship in Microbial Ecology
02/2023 BIOS Grant-in-Aid for collaborative research stay at Bermuda Institute of Ocean Science
06/2022 WHOI interdisciplinary award for development of RotoBOD incubator
12/2021 WHOI Postdoctoral Scholarship
02/2022 MARUM Research Award for Marine Science
10/2011 German National Scholarship Program ’Deutschlandstipendium’
Contact
Got questions or ready to start a project? Reach out today.