Like humans, phytoplankton require a balanced diet of vitamins and minerals to grow and thrive. However, over a third of ocean waters contain too little iron to fully support phytoplankton communities, and ‘micronutrients’ like cobalt, manganese, and zinc control the growth of certain plankton groups.

These ‘precious metals’ occur at trace levels in the ocean, but they have an outsized role, influencing global climate over thousands of years. Ben Twining is a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, its vice president of education, and an oceanographer whose research focuses on understanding the interactions of metals with ocean plankton.

From the Antarctic to the Arctic, New Zealand to Barbados, Twining and his research group are on a global hunt to understand metal limitation in the ocean and how it affects our world. Join Twining on July 31 from 5 to 6:30 p.m. at Bigelow Laboratory in East Boothbay to learn about studying metal limitation at the corners of the Earth.

Bigelow Laboratory’s Café Sci is a fun, free way for you to engage with ocean researchers on critical issues and groundbreaking science. You can see the full schedule, learn more, and register online for this popular summer series at www.bigelow.org/cafesci.