PMEL's Ocean Molecular Ecology (OME) program uses 'Omics tools to tackle global ocean issues. We help lead the implementation of the NOAA 'Omics strategy and the White House's National Aquatic eDNA Strategy to advance NOAA's mission of science and stewardship. We seek to leverage advances in molecular biology to scale biological analyses with physical and chemical processes. Our science aims to characterize the impacts of warming, ocean acidification, and hypoxia on marine life. This allows for characterization of marine ecosystems as they respond to a changing climate.
OME work directly supports NOAA's core missions in numerous ways
- Understand and predict Earth systems by characterizing climate impacts on marine biodiversity.
- Develop technology to improve NOAA science, service, and stewardship by advancing 'Omics approaches.
- Transition results so they are useful to society - we do this by creating open access data dissemination, bioinformatic software, and genetic resources.
- Provide stewardship and maintain sustainability of the Nation's living marine resources, their habitats, interactions, and ecosystems by generating critical biodiversity information that is foundational for climate resilient ecosystem based fisheries management.
NOAA 'Omics Website
PMEL Ocean Molecular Ecology Technical Portal
NOAA 'Omics Technical Portal
What's Happening
Since 2020, the Ocean Molecular Ecology (OME) group has collaborated with Ecosystem and Fisheries Oceanography Coordinated Investigations (EcoFOCI) to maintain a seawater environmental DNA (eDNA) time series in the U.S. Arctic. This fall, Shannon Brown participated in the annual EcoFOCI Fall Mooring cruise, which focuses on deploying and recovering oceanographic moorings and collecting shipboard biophysical samples at and between mooring locations. U.S. Arctic marine ecosystems are rapidly changing in response to climate change with accelerating ocean warming and sea ice loss leading to cascading ecosystem effects. OME leverages eDNA approaches to examine the regional... more
Feature Publication
Dorsal fin of a harbor porpoise. Credit: NOAA Fisheries
In collaboration with scientists at NOAA Fisheries, Ocean Molecular Ecology scientist Zack Gold participated in a environmental DNA (eDNA) study focused on the hidden structure of Alaska's harbor porpoise populations. To learn more about the project, read NOAA Fisheries featured story entitled: New Clues Reveal Genetic Diversity among Alaska's Harbor Porpoises.