Micro-organisms found in aquatic systems are incredibly diverse including several species of phytoplankton (autotrophic protists), protozooplankton (heterotrophic protists) and bacteria all referred under the generic term of microbes.

Interactions between these microbes form a complex microbial network which impacts on food web dynamics and biogeochemical cycles.

Establishing the link between microbial diversity and function in aquatic food chain dynamics and role in various biogeochemical cycles or their negative impact on health or environment is a major challenge of aquatic microbiology.

To address this challenge ESA develops and applies methods for measuring the standing stocks (abundance & biomass), process rates and diversity of various functional microbial groups.

These methods combine the use of new techniques of cellular and molecular biology and more traditional methods of microbial ecology.