Dr. Ron Kiene, professor of marine sciences at the University of South Alabama and senior marine scientist at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, is the co-author of two papers published in the Oct. 26 issue of the prestigious journal Science.

The papers focus on two different, but related aspects of the biology and chemistry of dimethylsulfide (DMS) and its precursor dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) in the ocean.

DMS is a sulfur gas that is produced in the ocean and transferred to the atmosphere. The amount of DMS emitted from the ocean is important because it affects the chemistry of the atmosphere and global climate. Kiene’s research has long investigated the factors that control the amount of DMS that accumulates in the surface ocean and is available to exchange with the atmosphere.

The papers appearing in Science both deal with factors that could limit the amount of DMS that is released from the sea. They were co-authored with colleagues from the University of Georgia and the Institute of Marine Science in Barcelona, Spain. USA marine sciences doctoral student Hyakubun Harada and former postdoctoral research associate Dr. Doris Slezak also served as authors for one of the Science papers.

Both of the published papers, “Dimethylsulfoniopropionate (DMSP) Uptake by Marine Phytoplankton” and “Identification of Bacterial Taxa that Limit Sulfur Flux from the Ocean,” were supported by the National Science Foundation.

Science is the weekly academic peer-reviewed journal for the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Science was started in 1880.