Dr. Solveig Bühring

My research focuses on the link between organisms and ecosystem functioning. I prefer to work in situ using lipid biomarker and stable isotope assays, as well as labeling techniques. With the use of different 13C-labeled substrates and subsequent analysis of prokaryotic biomarkers, I can follow the uptake into metabolically active populations. As a geomicrobiologist, I aim to identify key players in carbon cycling in diverse aquatic settings. I predominantly study extreme environments harboring rich prokaryotic communities, e.g. sulfur-rich springs, acid mine drainage areas, or microbial mats.

Recent and ongoing projects

• Microbial carbon fixation in a marine shallow-water hydrothermal vent system
• Microbial community of the Farbstreifensandwatt
• Microbial diversity of Río Tinto
• Black Sea anoxic water column community
• Terrestrial sulfidic spring community

Christiansen, B., Bühring, S.I., Pfannkuche, O., Weikert, H. (2010) "The near-bottom plankton community at the Porcupine Abyssal Plain, NE-Atlantic: structure and vertical distribution". Marine Biology Research 6/2: 113-124.

Bühring, S.I., Smittenberg, R.H., Sachse, D., Lipp, J.S., Golubic, S., Sachs, J.P., Hinrichs, K.-U., & Summons, R.E. (2009) "A hypersaline microbial mat from the Pacific Atoll Kiritimati: Insight into composition and carbon fixation using biomarker analyses and a 13C-labeling approach". Geobiology 7: 308-323.

Elshahed, M.S., Luo, Q., Najar, F.Z., Roe, B.A., Sisk, T.M., Bühring, S.I., Hinrichs, K.-U., Krumholz, L.R. (2007):" Phylogenetic diversity and metabolic capabilities of members of the phylum Planctomycetes in anaerobic, sulfide and sulfur-rich sediments in a mesophilic spring (Zodletone spring, OK, USA)". Applied and Environmental Microbiology 73/15: 4707-4716.

Bühring, S.I., Ehrenhauss, S., Kamp, A., Moodley, L. & Witte, U. (2006): "Enhanced benthic activity in sandy sublittoral sediments: Evidence from 13C-tracer experiments" Marine Biology Research 2:120-129.

Bühring, S.I., Lampadariou, N., Moodley, L., Tselepides, A. & Witte, U. (2006) "Benthic microbial and whole-community responses to different amounts of 13C-enriched algae: in situ experiments in the deep Cretan Sea (eastern Mediterranean). Limnology & Oceanography 51/1: 157-165.

Bühring, S.I., Elvert, M. & Witte, U. (2005): "The microbial community structure of different permeable sandy sediments characterised by the investigation of bacterial fatty acids and fluorescence in situ hybridisation". Environmental Microbiology 7/2: 281-293.

Ehrenhauss, S., Witte, U., Bühring, S.I. & Huettel, M. (2004): "Effect of advective pore water transport on distribution and degradation of diatoms in permeable North Sea sediments". Marine Ecology Progress Series 271:99-111.

Bühring, S.I., Koppelmann, R., Christiansen, B. & Weikert, H. (2002): "Are Rhodophyceae a dietary component for deep-sea holothurians?" Journal of Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 82:347-348.

Bühring, S.I. & Christiansen, B. (2001): "Lipids in selected abyssal benthopelagic animals: links to the epipelagic zone?" Progress in Oceanography 50:369-382.

Bühring, S.I., Sievert, S.M., Jonkers, H.M., Ertefai, T., Elshahed, M.S. Krumholz, L.R. & Hinrichs, K.-U. "Insights into chemotaxonomic composition and carbon cycling of phototrophic communities in an artesian sulfur-rich spring (Zodletone, Oklahoma, USA), a possible analogue for ancient microbial mat systems". submitted to Geobiology.

Bühring, S.I., Schubotz, F., Harms, C., Lipp, J.S., Amils, R. & Hinrichs, K.-U.: "Lipid signatures of acidophilic microbial communities in an extreme, acidic environment: Río Tinto, Spain". submitted to Applied Environmental Microbiology.

As part of my Marie-Curie Fellowship I did research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA. Please visit my external homepage.