The Arabian Gulf provides a uniquely powerful natural laboratory for studying marine biogeochemistry. Characterized by extreme hypersalinity, large seasonal and spatial temperature fluctuations, and intense anthropogenic stress, the Gulf challenges many
conventional assumptions about marine ecosystem function. Despite its generally oligotrophic conditions, the region supports persistent and often high levels of primary production, making it an ideal system for investigating how microbial communities adapt,
interact, and sustain productivity under environmental extremes.
In collaboration with the Mubadala Arabian Center for Climate and Environmental Sciences (ACCESS), our research aims to comprehensively characterize the biogeochemical and microbial dynamics of the Arabian Gulf through four integrated project components. First, we conduct extensive oceanographic cruises across 34 stations spanning the UAE Gulf, where we measure physical parameters such as temperature and salinity, quantify nutrient concentrations, and collect microbial samples. These cruises also include targeted sampling for metagenomic analyses to resolve the diversity and functional potential of phytoplankton communities across environmental gradients. To complement discrete sampling, we deploy an Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB) for high-resolution, real-time monitoring of phytoplankton community composition. Finally, we use controlled, continuous culturing systems in the laboratory to model key components of the microbial loop, focusing on interactions between phytoplankton and opportunistic or symbiotic bacteria. Together, these approaches provide an integrated view of how microbial communities structure, function, and persist in one of the world’s most extreme marine environments
Oceanographic Cruises
Oceanographic cruises are regularly conducted across the UAE’s marine waters to better understand the physical, chemical, and biological processes shaping the Arabian Gulf. Despite the Gulf’s ecological and economic importance, large-scale offshore observations remain rare, with most previous studies limited to near-shore environments.
Since 2023, in partnership with the Environment Agency–Abu Dhabi, we have completed seven multidisciplinary research cruises spanning the full UAE coastline and extending into the deepest waters of the UAE along the center of the Gulf. A total of 34 stations are sampled repeatedly across seasons, allowing us to capture both spatial patterns and seasonal variability. During each cruise, we measure key physical parameters including temperature, salinity, and dissolved oxygen, alongside detailed nutrient chemistry. These
measurements are paired with molecular and biochemical analyses of microbial communities using DNA, RNA, and metabolomics approaches. Together, this integrated dataset provides a unique, high-resolution view of water quality, nutrient cycling, and microbial dynamics in the Gulf. By repeating these surveys seasonally, our work builds a long-term baseline for assessing nutrient limitation, ecosystem change, and the impacts of environmental stressors on UAE marine waters.
Real-Time Phytoplankton Monitoring in the Arabian Gulf
The Marine Microbiomics Laboratory, in collaboration with Mubadala ACCESS, conducts long-term monitoring of oceanographic parameters and phytoplankton seasonal dynamics in the UAE coastal waters of the Arabian Gulf. Phytoplankton are microscopic marine organisms that form the base of marine food webs and play a crucial role in regulating Earth’s climate through carbon and nutrient cycling; because they respond rapidly to environmental change, they provide early indicators of shifts in ocean health. The extreme environmental conditions of the Arabian Gulf increase ecosystem vulnerability, making continuous, high-resolution observations essential for understanding climate impacts and enabling early detection of harmful algal blooms (HABs).
This project uses the Imaging FlowCytobot (IFCB), an autonomous underwater imaging system, to monitor phytoplankton directly in the ocean in near real time. While deployed, the IFCB captures high-resolution images of individual phytoplankton cells and transmits the data remotely to a secure server, allowing real-time observations on abundance and community composition.
To efficiently analyze the large volume of image data, we integrate artificial intelligence and deep learning methods (ResNet50 models) to automatically identify and classify phytoplankton species. By combining advanced ocean instrumentation with machine
learning, this project enables rapid, scalable, and data-driven monitoring of marine ecosystems, supporting research, environmental management, and long-term sustainability in the Arabian Gulf and beyond.
Ecology and function of the Arabian Gulf microbiomes using a meta-omics approach
Marine microbial communities, including both prokaryotic and eukaryotic phytoplankton, form complex and highly dynamic interaction networks that underpin ecosystem productivity and global biogeochemical cycles. Despite their importance, the microbiomes of the Arabian Gulf remain among the most understudied worldwide. Here, we characterize the ecology and function of marine microbiomes in the Arabian Gulf using integrated metagenomic and metatranscriptomic approaches. By sequencing environmental DNA and RNA, we link community composition to functional potential and activity, capturing spatial and seasonal dynamics as well as metabolic pathways associated with adaptation to extreme temperature, salinity, and nutrient regimes. The southern Arabian Gulf—the hottest sea on Earth—provides a natural laboratory for climate change, enabling investigation of microbial adaptation and resilience under environmental extremes. Insights from this system inform predictions of how marine microbiomes, and the ecosystems they support, may respond to ongoing and future climate-driven changes in oceans worldwide
Modelling the Microbial Loop
Mathematical modeling enables the integration of sparse biological and chemical observations into a quantitative framework for understanding complex ocean biogeochemical processes. The microbial loop describes the network of interactions through which microorganisms recycle nutrients and organic carbon playing a central role in primary production and biogeochemical cycling. Most existing ocean and climate models represent the microbial loop in a highly simplified way, contributing to uncertainty in predictions of nutrient and carbon cycling.
Here, we combine continuous laboratory culturing with modeling to quantify how interactions between phytoplankton and bacteria regulate nutrient availability under nutrient-limited conditions in the Arabian Gulf. We use in-house fabricated, affordable chemostats to culture a model diatom species isolated from the Gulf with different bacterial communities, allowing the collection of steady-state data suitable for model development. These experimental data are used to build and validate a biogeochemical model that explicitly represents the microbial loop. This integrated experimental–modeling framework improves regional ecosystem predictions for the Arabian Gulf and informs broader climate modeling efforts.
Find out more about Mubadala ACCESS: https://accessnyuad.org/