Interactions at sea: on the microbiome life-cycle and biogeochemical processes

The marine phycosphere is a microscale mucosal region of microbiomes surrounding a phytoplankton cell. The phycosphere (analogous to the terrestrial rhizosphere) is where microbial interactions navigate the biochemistry of the sea. The study of this microsphere deals with the causal relation enigma between two spatiotemporal scales: the micro-communal interactions and the macro-level of the biogeochemical cycles (Stocker, Science, 338(6107), 628-633, 2012); Segev et al., eLife, 5, e17473, 2016; Seymour et al., Nature Microbiology 2, Article 17065, 2017). This study of communities and ecosystems looks at metabolic interactions and interdependence relations, not focusing on biodiversity as the object of study. Following marine microbial ecology, an epistemic view of interactions and inter-communal relations seems to take the bulk of consideration. In this paper, I ask what it is about the sea that promotes an interactionist epistemic framework that is different than other fields in microbial ecology. Using Helen Longino's interactionist ontology (2020, 2021), I ask whether the sea presents a unique epistemic framework focusing on understanding interactions and interdependence. I look into the insights marine environmental studies may provide to the methodological and conceptual challenges in understanding microbial ecological stability and life cycles. By paralleling marine and soil microbial ecology, I highlight the distinct features of the water column that offer a unique epistemic and methodological framework focused on interactions and interdependence. Exploring microbial ecology at sea, I detail its epistemic advantages in shaping an interactionist theoretical and conceptual framework.