19 January – 22 February 2026
#LivingBioreactors
Each night in the open ocean, hundreds of millions of tons of fish, shrimps, jellies, and other animals rise from the deep to feed near the surface. Then, at dawn, they descend hundreds of meters to avoid predators. This is the largest animal migration on Earth, and a major natural carbon-capture system. After these animals consume organisms and return to the depths, they carry carbon to the deep ocean. Together, these processes are thought to play a significant role in Earth’s carbon cycle, but the process of diel vertical migration remains poorly understood. In particular, very little is known about how biochemical reactions in animals’ digestive systems and gut microbiomes shape the fate of carbon.
During this expedition between Schmidt Ocean Institute and Schmidt Sciences’ Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute, Dr. Anitra Ingalls of the University of Washington, U.S., and an international team of scientists are studying the gut microbiomes of vertically migrating animals and how they impact carbon storage in the deep sea. Ingalls and her team suspect that midwater animal guts are underappreciated hotspots for microbial organic matter transformations and keystone biomolecule production on a scale of global significance.
Their research will commence in the Southwest Atlantic, in the deep waters off the coast of South America. Using ROV SuBastian, along with two large midwater trawls, acoustics, drifting sediment traps, and CTD and rosette casts, the team will quantify the amount of carbon captured through vertical migration, improving our understanding of the global carbon cycle. This is the first of two cruises for this team on R/V Falkor (too), in which they will make targeted observations of the animal gut microbiome and its metabolism, animal behavior, and carbon export to be incorporated into models over the next several years.
What is a living bioreactor?
A bioreactor is a vessel or system in which cells, microorganisms, or tissues grow and perform biochemical reactions in a controlled setting. An animal microbiome hosts trillions of microorganisms and can be considered a living bioreactor. Microbes, such as bacteria, archaea, and fungi, aid digestion by breaking down food into basic molecules that different animal bodies use to function.
As matter moves up the oceanic food pyramid, it is transformed by these internal microbes. When excreted, this matter re-enters the ocean as a new suite of molecules, many of which are vital for the growth of other marine life. For example, vitamin B12, a common product of bacteria in animal guts, fuels phytoplankton growth and enhances the nutritional value of fish. It is one of the many molecules the team will examine and quantify as they study the role of midwater organisms’ gut microbiomes in the carbon cycle.
By examining everything from gut microbiomes to animal populations, they will quantify the role midwater organisms — both migrating and non-migrating — play in the biological carbon pump using observational, experimental, and theoretical approaches.
The research will begin off the coast of Southern Argentina, in international waters, and travel northwards towards Brazil. The waters off Southern Argentina are rich in nutrients and support thriving pelagic ecosystems, whereas those off Brazil are considered nutrient-poor. The team will compare and contrast these two water masses and examine how nutrient availability impacts animal populations and the molecules produced by animal microbiomes.
Knowledge of organic matter cycling within the guts of midwater organisms is in its infancy, and this is the first comprehensive examination of organic matter transformations within the guts of midwater organisms — including diel migrators and non-migratory species. This team’s research will be used to create predictive models of the role of midwater organisms in the carbon cycle and to gain a better understanding of how climate change impacts the Ocean.
The Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute
The Ocean Biogeochemistry Virtual Institute (OBVI) is a Schmidt Sciences’ Climate Science program. Schmidt Sciences is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization founded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt and a sister organization of Schmidt Ocean Institute.
Schmidt Sciences focuses across five key focus areas: AI & Advanced Computing, Astrophysics & Space, Biosciences, Climate, and Science Systems. The organization envisions a world where science is bold, collaborative, and provides well-researched solutions for planetary challenges. To meet this goal, they provide grant funding, staff collaboration, and host grantee convenings across their programs. The primary programs are virtual institutes — long-term, global collaborations that bring together scientists from across disciplines to tackle societal challenges.
OBVI focuses on advancing our understanding of ocean carbon cycling and other critical processes, such as oxygen cycling. The Ocean has captured nearly one-third of human-produced carbon dioxide emissions over the last century. Projects funded by OBVI seek to fill knowledge gaps on how the ocean’s biogeochemistry and animal life are responding to the excess carbon dioxide being absorbed by the system.
2026 Artist-at-Sea
Schmidt Ocean Institute’s Artist-at-Sea program explores the intersection of science and art by inviting artists on deep-sea expeditions. Each artist joins the crew and science teams to explore, research, and create using R/V Falkor (too) as a platform for discovery.
Paula Proaño Mesias explores various technological structures, as well as their cultural and political dimensions, examining the tensions between the human and the non-human. Through this, she questions how this dichotomy affects ways of cohabiting and the structuring of the world-system.
She incorporates a range of media, such as performance, sculpture, video, and installation. Mesías explains that she evaluates Western ways of conceiving the natural world to challenge human-centered notions and norms, creating pieces that establish relationships between bodies from a posthumanist perspective, as an alternative form of (self)representation against dominant schemes. Read more here.
Team
