1. Should We Study Microbes at Microbial Scales, and If We Should, How Can We? Michael Sieracki Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences

2. Philosophy Scientists try to be rational, objective, and unbiased.

3. Philosophy Scientists try to be rational, objective, and unbiased. But scientists are human, and humans are irrational, subjective, and biased.

4. Philosophy Scientists try to be rational, objective, and unbiased. But scientists are human, and humans are irrational, subjective, and biased. Human minds are visual, and we like stories.

5. Philosophy Scientists try to be rational, objective, and unbiased. But scientists are human, and humans are irrational, subjective, and biased. Human minds are visual, and we like stories. So much of what we “know” about nature is based on good stories that hold together and are pleasing to us. Evidence and observations fit into these stories, so they are believable. But that does not make the stories true.

6. Wolpert, Lewis (1993, reprinted 2000) The unnatural nature of science: why science does not make (common) sense. Harvard University Press.

7. Advice Learn everything you can about your subject, from lectures, literature. Know it, but do not believe it (this is not religion). You must know the subject to judge when an idea or observation is new. Be skeptical of experts, do not believe what we tell you or what you read. Trust your own eyes, your own observations, over what someone else says or has written (especially experts). Question your instructors, make them uncomfortable, find out what they don’t know.

8. Plankton Orders of Magnitude

9. “Micro-liter-sphere”. 1 microliter (µL) = 1 cubic millimeter (mm 3 ) 1 cmVirusesBacteriaPicophytoplanktonFlagellatesCiliatesDiatoms 10,000 1,000 10 1 0.02 Number of organisms in 1 microliter of open ocean water

10. Dissolved Organic Matter Small phytoplankton Bacteria Flagellates Ciliates Microbial Food Web All forms produce dissolved organic matter

11. In every microliter of seawater there are all the organisms for a complete, functional ecosystem. These organisms form the fabric of life in the sea - the other organisms are embroidery on this fabric. “Microliter-sphere”

12. “Microlitersphere” Nice story, but….

13. “Microlitersphere” Nice story, but…. Is it true??

14. “Microlitersphere” Nice story, but…. Is it true?? What could be wrong with this picture?

15. “Microlitersphere” Nice story, but…. Is it true?? What could be wrong with this picture? Hint: what are the assumptions?

16. DAPI stained bacteria

17. Polymer Gels Tanaka 1993

18. Polymer gels are naturally produced and dispersed in seawater Orellana and Verdugo 2003

19. Azam Impressionist View 1998 Science 280:694-696 “Organic matter continuum” Dissolved to particulate

20. Bacterial clustering around protists Darkfield microscopy Blackburn et al. 1998 Science 282:2254-2256

21. Should we study microbes at microbial scales? ……… if so ……. how?