The highlight of the project is the cutting-edge experiment conducted at LOV using the Climator facility (https://lov.imev-mer.fr/web/facilities/climator/) allowing for an unprecedented control and evaluation of the effect of biomass burning aerosols (BBa) on seawater’s chemical composition and its impacts on marine microorganisms. Thanks to a 2 weeks experiment, we’ll get a full picture of the interactions between the (micro)nutrients released by the BBa, including the organic forms, and the diversity of the natural assemblage. A series of processes including particulate/dissolved exchange, scavenging and aggregation will be parameterized. PYROPLANKTON-LEFE will tackle the following questions: (1) what are the dissolution and scavenging kinetics of metals from BBa in the surface ocean; (2) what is the fate of organic matter released by BBa upon deposition? (3) what are the interactions between both allochthonous and autochthonous organic matter and BBa (aggregation, ballast effect, export); (4) how do inputs from forest wildfires impact microbial diversity?
