Global Subseafloor Ecosystem and Sustainability (GSES)

The subseafloor ecosystem includes all life living in marine sediment, crust and the accompany fluids. This ecosystem is also called deep biosphere where the energy source mainly comes from geological processes, cut off from sunlight. Deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps are regarded as windows of the subsurface life. Still little is known about the subseafloor life regarding their diversity, assemblage, function, and possible services to human society which is not only the key to understand the origin of life and evolution, to explore extraterrestrial life, and also crucial to evaluate the impact of the proposed ocean-based climate interventions on Earth. Therefore, we initiate a global-scale program “Global Subseafloor Ecosystem and Sustainability” (GSES) to generate new systematic insights into subseafloor ecosystems and transform them into predictive capabilities. During this talk I will introduce the aims and goals of GSES, I will highlight findings from our group on sedimentary archaea, their roles in carbon fixation and carbon cycling, emphasizing the roles of Microbes in driving Carbon Transformation in marine Sediments (MCT-S). In the end, I’ll introduce research progress and challenges in marine crustal biosphere which is potentially the largest biosphere on this planet.

Fengping Wang is a distinguished Professor of microbial ecology at the School of Science and Biotechnology, Shanghai JiaoTong University (SJTU) with research interests in geomicrobiology, deep biosphere and life-Earth co-evolution. She is heading the International Center for Deep Life Investigation (ICDLI)