About

Michael Follows is a Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. His research focuses on biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nutrients in the ocean. He uses numerical models to understand the combination of physical transport, chemical, and biological processes that determine the distributions and fluxes of these elements in the ocean.

Research topics

• Genetics
• Biology
• Evolutionary biology
• Ecology

Selected publications

• Functional repertoire convergence of distantly related eukaryotic plankton lineages abundant in the sunlit ocean

  Cell Genomics · 2022 · 185 citations

  • Biology
  • Evolutionary biology
  • Ecology

  Oceans metagenomic reads from polar, temperate, and tropical sunlit oceans to reconstruct and manually curate more than 700 abundant and widespread eukaryotic environmental genomes ranging from 10 Mbp to 1.3 Gbp. This genomic resource covers a wide range of poorly characterized eukaryotic lineages that complement long-standing contributions from culture collections while better representing plankton in the upper layer of the oceans. We performed the first, to our knowledge, comprehensive genome-wide functional classification of abundant unicellular eukaryotic plankton, revealing four major groups connecting distantly related lineages. Neither trophic modes of plankton nor its vertical evolutionary history could completely explain the functional repertoire convergence of major eukaryotic lineages that coexisted within oceanic currents for millions of years.

  DOI

• Anthropogenic Asian Aerosols provide Fe to the North Pacific

  Ocean Sciences Meeting 2020 · 2020 · 1 citations

  • Environmental science
  • Climatology
  • Oceanography

• Anthropogenic Asian aerosols provide Fe to the North Pacific Ocean

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2020 · 100 citations

  • Oceanography
  • Environmental science
  • Geology

  Fe > -0.65‰) observed in the region that is most influenced by aerosol deposition. An isotope mass balance suggests that anthropogenic Fe contributes 21-59% of dissolved Fe measured between 35° and 40°N. Thus, anthropogenic aerosol Fe is likely to be an important Fe source to the North Pacific Ocean.

  DOI

Frequent coauthors

• Chris Bowler

  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

  26 shared

• Céline Dimier

  Sorbonne Université

  21 shared

• Sabrina Speich

  École Normale Supérieure - PSL

  21 shared

• Gabriel Gorsky

  19 shared

• Patrick Wincker

  18 shared

• Colomban de Vargas

  Station Biologique de Roscoff

  18 shared

• Eric Karsenti

  Génomique Métabolique du Genoscope

  15 shared

• Marc Picheral

  Sorbonne Université

  15 shared

Similar researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Rudolf Jaenischh-295
• Robert A. Weinbergh-291
• Susumu Tonegawah-237
• James J. Collinsh-232
• Phillip A. Sharph-227