Matters Microbial #124: How Bacteria Die in the Microbial Marine Forest February 24, 2026

Today Dr. Anne Thompson, Research Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Portland State University, joins the #QualityQuorum to discuss the small but necessary microbes in our oceans. They are hugely abundant, use strategies that produce the very oxygen we breathe, and live within an unseen marine jungle!

Host: Mark O. Martin

Guest: Anne Thompson

Download MM124 (37 MB MP3, 62 mins)

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Links for this episode

• Here is a wonderful essay about the marine cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus, probably the most abundant photosynthetic organism on Earth.
• Here is a wonderful presentation about the marine bacterium Pelagibacter, likely the most abundant organism on the planet.
• Here is a wonderful TED talk by the inspirational Dr. Penny Chisolm of MIT about the wonders of Prochlorococcus. PLEASE watch this wonderful video by a wonderful and inspiring scientist.
• A description of the Great Oxidation Event, caused by early cyanobacteria, which changed our planet.
• A lovely and fascinating essay about microbial numbers in the ocean and other ecosystems.
• A video overview of flow cytometry, which was essential to understanding the very small microbes in the ocean.
• A Scientific American article about the "Invisible Forest" of marine microbes, by Falkowski.
• A video overview of the picocyanobacteria, including Synechococcus and previously discussed Prochlorococcus.
• The essential work of Dr. John Waterbury of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and photosynthetic marine microbes.
• An overview of the predators of the marine picocyanobacteria by Dr. Thompson and collaborators.
• The work of Dr. Kelly Sutherland of the University of Oregon, who collaborates with Dr. Thompson.
• A video describing the wonderfully strange choanoflagellates, which may resemble the first multicellular organisms on our planet, discussed on the podcast.
• The "mucus nets" of the organisms that Dr. Thompson and collaborators study, which may prey upon picocyanobacteria.
• A very clear overview of the research interests of Dr. Thompson and her coworkers.
• A nice video by Dr. Thompson about her research.
• Dr. Thompson's faculty website at Portland State University.
• Dr. Thompson's wonderful laboratory website.
• The website for an upcoming book that Dr. Thompson is preparing on the microbial marine forest and its importance to life on Earth.

Intro music is by Reber Clark

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