Orcutt Beth N.

No Thumbnail Available
Last Name
Orcutt
First Name
Beth N.
ORCID
0000-0002-6233-3578

Filters

2013 - 2019 1 2020 - 2023 9
5 5
10
Reset filters

Settings

Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 10
  • Article
    COBRA: a research accelerator for the crustal ocean biosphere
    (Marine Technology Society, 2021-05-01) Huber, Julie A. ; Orcutt, Beth N.
    The deep seafloor covers two-thirds of Earth's surface area, but our understanding of the ecosystems and resources found in the deep ocean, as well as the ability of deep-sea ecosystems to withstand human perturbation, is limited. These deep-sea habitats demand urgent study as there are emergent human uses in the form of deep-sea mining and carbon sequestration that will fundamentally alter physical, chemical, and biological conditions that took millions of years to establish. We propose the international network COBRA, a research accelerator for the crustal ocean biosphere. COBRA will bring together diverse stakeholders and experts, including interdisciplinary academic and government scientists, private institutions, policy makers, data systems engineers, industry experts, and others to coordinate efforts that generate new knowledge and inform decision making about activities that could affect the deep ocean and, by extension, all of society. We will also train the next generation of leaders in ocean exploration, science, and policy through an innovative virtual program to carry this effort into future generations of ocean and earth science research. COBRA will inform policies relating to emergent industrial uses of the deep ocean, decrease the likelihood of serious harm to the environment, and maintain ecosystem services for the benefit of society.
  • Dataset
    Metadata for cathodic poised potential experiments with subsurface crustal samples from CORK borehole observatories at North Pond on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during R/V Atlantis cruise AT39-01
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2020-02-11) Orcutt, Beth N.
    Metadata for cathodic poised potential experiments with subsurface crustal samples from CORK borehole observatories at North Pond on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during R/V Atlantis cruise AT39-01. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/780225
  • Dataset
    Cyclic voltametry data from cathodic poised potential experiments with subsurface crustal samples from CORK borehole observatories at North Pond on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during R/V Atlantis cruise AT39-01
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2020-02-11) Orcutt, Beth N.
    Cyclic voltametry data from cathodic poised potential experiments with subsurface crustal samples from CORK borehole observatories at North Pond on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during R/V Atlantis cruise AT39-01. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/780248
  • Article
    Microbial activity in the marine deep biosphere : progress and prospects
    (Frontiers Media, 2013-07-11) Orcutt, Beth N. ; LaRowe, Douglas E. ; Biddle, Jennifer F. ; Colwell, Frederick S. ; Glazer, Brian T. ; Kiel Reese, Brandi ; Kirkpatrick, John B. ; Lapham, Laura L. ; Mills, Heath J. ; Sylvan, Jason B. ; Wankel, Scott D. ; Wheat, C. Geoffrey
    The vast marine deep biosphere consists of microbial habitats within sediment, pore waters, upper basaltic crust and the fluids that circulate throughout it. A wide range of temperature, pressure, pH, and electron donor and acceptor conditions exists—all of which can combine to affect carbon and nutrient cycling and result in gradients on spatial scales ranging from millimeters to kilometers. Diverse and mostly uncharacterized microorganisms live in these habitats, and potentially play a role in mediating global scale biogeochemical processes. Quantifying the rates at which microbial activity in the subsurface occurs is a challenging endeavor, yet developing an understanding of these rates is essential to determine the impact of subsurface life on Earth's global biogeochemical cycles, and for understanding how microorganisms in these “extreme” environments survive (or even thrive). Here, we synthesize recent advances and discoveries pertaining to microbial activity in the marine deep subsurface, and we highlight topics about which there is still little understanding and suggest potential paths forward to address them. This publication is the result of a workshop held in August 2012 by the NSF-funded Center for Dark Energy Biosphere Investigations (C-DEBI) “theme team” on microbial activity (www.darkenergybiosphere.org).
  • Dataset
    Synthesis of publicly-available sequence datasets of the 16S rRNA gene in environmental DNA extracted from seafloor and subseafloor samples from the Dorado outcrop, Lō'ihi Seamount, North Pond, and Juan de Fuca Ridge flank
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2020-02-05) Orcutt, Beth N. ; D'Angelo, Timothy
    To summarize crustal bacterial and archaeal taxa for this review, we synthesized publicly-available sequence datasets of the 16S rRNA gene in environmental DNA extracted from seafloor and subseafloor basalts generated using 454, Illumina and Ion Torrent amplicon platforms. These include seafloor basalts from the Dorado Outcrop and the Lō'ihi Seamount in the Pacific Ocean and subseafloor basalts from North Pond on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and the Juan de Fuca Ridge flank in the northeastern Pacific Ocean. Datasets from rock colonization experiments conducted in the subseafloor at the Juan de Fuca Ridge flank site were also included, as well as microbial community surveys of the subseafloor crustal fluids from the anoxic Juan de Fuca site and the oxic North Pond site. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/789136
  • Dataset
    Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) photographs of biofilms on indium tin oxide electrodes from cathodic poised potential experiments with subsurface crustal samples from CORK borehole observatories at North Pond on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during R/V A
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2020-02-11) Orcutt, Beth N.
    Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) photographs of biofilms on indium tin oxide electrodes from cathodic poised potential experiments with subsurface crustal samples from CORK borehole observatories at North Pond on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during R/V Atlantis cruise AT39-01. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/780261
  • Dataset
    Chronoamperometry data from cathodic poised potential experiments with subsurface crustal samples from CORK borehole observatories at North Pond on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during R/V Atlantis cruise AT39-01
    (Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO). Contact: bco-dmo-data@whoi.edu, 2020-02-11) Orcutt, Beth N.
    Chronoamperometry data from cathodic poised potential experiments with subsurface crustal samples from CORK borehole observatories at North Pond on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge during R/V Atlantis cruise AT39-01. For a complete list of measurements, refer to the full dataset description in the supplemental file 'Dataset_description.pdf'. The most current version of this dataset is available at: https://www.bco-dmo.org/dataset/780127
  • Article
    Oceanic crustal fluid single cell genomics complements metagenomic and metatranscriptomic surveys with orders of magnitude less sample volume
    (Frontiers Media, 2022-01-24) D'Angelo, Timothy ; Goordial, Jacqueline M. ; Poulton, Nicole J. ; Seyler, Lauren M. ; Huber, Julie A. ; Stepanauskas, Ramunas ; Orcutt, Beth N.
    Fluids circulating through oceanic crust play important roles in global biogeochemical cycling mediated by their microbial inhabitants, but studying these sites is challenged by sampling logistics and low biomass. Borehole observatories installed at the North Pond study site on the western flank of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge have enabled investigation of the microbial biosphere in cold, oxygenated basaltic oceanic crust. Here we test a methodology that applies redox-sensitive fluorescent molecules for flow cytometric sorting of cells for single cell genomic sequencing from small volumes of low biomass (approximately 103 cells ml–1) crustal fluid. We compare the resulting genomic data to a recently published paired metagenomic and metatranscriptomic analysis from the same site. Even with low coverage genome sequencing, sorting cells from less than one milliliter of crustal fluid results in similar interpretation of dominant taxa and functional profiles as compared to ‘omics analysis that typically filter orders of magnitude more fluid volume. The diverse community dominated by Gammaproteobacteria, Bacteroidetes, Desulfobacterota, Alphaproteobacteria, and Zetaproteobacteria, had evidence of autotrophy and heterotrophy, a variety of nitrogen and sulfur cycling metabolisms, and motility. Together, results indicate fluorescence activated cell sorting methodology is a powerful addition to the toolbox for the study of low biomass systems or at sites where only small sample volumes are available for analysis.
  • Article
    Impacts of deep-sea mining on microbial ecosystem services
    (Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography, 2020-01-13) Orcutt, Beth N. ; Bradley, James ; Brazelton, William J. ; Estes, Emily R. ; Goordial, Jacqueline M. ; Huber, Julie A. ; Jones, Rose M. ; Mahmoudi, Nagissa ; Marlow, Jeffrey ; Murdock, Sheryl ; Pachiadaki, Maria G.
    Interest in extracting mineral resources from the seafloor through deep‐sea mining has accelerated in the past decade, driven by consumer demand for various metals like zinc, cobalt, and rare earth elements. While there are ongoing studies evaluating potential environmental impacts of deep‐sea mining activities, these focus primarily on impacts to animal biodiversity. The microscopic spectrum of seafloor life and the services that this life provides in the deep sea are rarely considered explicitly. In April 2018, scientists met to define the microbial ecosystem services that should be considered when assessing potential impacts of deep‐sea mining, and to provide recommendations for how to evaluate and safeguard these services. Here, we indicate that the potential impacts of mining on microbial ecosystem services in the deep sea vary substantially, from minimal expected impact to loss of services that cannot be remedied by protected area offsets. For example, we (1) describe potential major losses of microbial ecosystem services at active hydrothermal vent habitats impacted by mining, (2) speculate that there could be major ecosystem service degradation at inactive massive sulfide deposits without extensive mitigation efforts, (3) suggest minor impacts to carbon sequestration within manganese nodule fields coupled with potentially important impacts to primary production capacity, and (4) surmise that assessment of impacts to microbial ecosystem services at seamounts with ferromanganese crusts is too poorly understood to be definitive. We conclude by recommending that baseline assessments of microbial diversity, biomass, and, importantly, biogeochemical function need to be considered in environmental impact assessments of deep‐sea mining.
  • Article
    COBRA Master Class: Providing deep-sea expedition leadership training to accelerate early career advancement
    (Frontiers Media, 2023-10-05) Rotjan, Randi D. ; Bell, Katherine L. C. ; Huber, Julie A. ; Wheat, Charles Geoffrey ; Fisher, Andrew T. ; Sylvan, Rosalynn Lee ; McManus, James ; Bigham, Katharine T. ; Cambronero-Solano, Sergio ; Cordier, Tristan ; Goode, Savannah ; Leonard, Juliana ; Murdock, Sheryl ; Paula, Fabiana S. ; Ponsoni, Leandro ; Roa-Varon, Adela ; Seabrook, Sarah ; Shomberg, Russell ; Van Audenhaege, Loic ; Orcutt, Beth N.
    Leading deep-sea research expeditions requires a breadth of training and experience, and the opportunities for Early Career Researchers (ECRs) to obtain focused mentorship on expedition leadership are scarce. To address the need for leadership training in deep-sea expeditionary science, the Crustal Ocean Biosphere Research Accelerator (COBRA) launched a 14-week virtual Master Class with both synchronous and asynchronous components to empower students with the skills and tools to successfully design, propose, and execute deep-sea oceanographic field research. The Master Class offered customized and distributed training approaches and created an open-access syllabus with resources, including reading material, lectures, and on-line resources freely-available on the Master Class website (cobra.pubpub.org). All students were Early Career Researchers (ECRs, defined here as advanced graduate students, postdoctoral scientists, early career faculty, or individuals with substantial industry, government, or NGO experience) and designated throughout as COBRA Fellows. Fellows engaged in topics related to choosing the appropriate deep-sea research asset for their Capstone “dream cruise” project, learning about funding sources and how to tailor proposals to meet those source requirements, and working through an essential checklist of pre-expedition planning and operations. The Master Class covered leading an expedition at sea, at-sea operations, and ship-board etiquette, and the strengths and challenges of telepresence. It also included post-expedition training on data management strategies and report preparation and outputs. Throughout the Master Class, Fellows also discussed education and outreach, international ocean law and policy, and the importance and challenges of team science. Fellows further learned about how to develop concepts respectfully with regard to geographic and cultural considerations of their intended study sites. An assessment of initial outcomes from the first iteration of the COBRA Master Class reinforces the need for such training and shows great promise with one-quarter of the Fellows having submitted a research proposal to national funding agencies within six months of the end of the class. As deep-sea research continues to accelerate in scope and speed, providing equitable access to expedition training is a top priority to enable the next generation of deep-sea science leadership.