Marine Microbiology

[Gina Holguin]

Dear Chris,

In this center of biological research we are working on the microbiology 
of a marine environment which is the mangrove ecosystem. These ecosystems 
are similar to saltmarsh communities but at lower latitudes. We believe 
the bacteria themselves are sustaining these communities. We have found 
nitrogen fixing activity and phosphate solubilizing activity associated 
to the rhizosphere of mangrove trees. We intend to study also bacteria 
related to the sulfur cycle. We have also found a significant nitrogen 
fixing activity on cyanobacteria attached to aerial mangrove roots. If 
you make a search you will find very litte information on mangrove 
microbiology and everything we have found is probably new. In general 
marine microbiology is a new and promising field. I believe there is a 
great future for this field. 
    There is another group in our institute which is working on marine 
yeasts. They also have interesting results.
bye,
Gina