Dr. Ellen Oldenburg

Microbial communities are key players in marine ecosystems, influencing biogeochemical cycles and ecosystem stability. In polar regions, their seasonal dynamics and interactions remain insufficiently understood, yet they are crucial for predicting ecosystem responses to environmental change. My research focuses on integrating long-term time-series data with network analyses and causal inference methods to unravel microbial community dynamics in the Arctic Ocean. By applying advanced computational approaches such as co-occurrence networks, convergent cross mapping (CCM), and energy landscape analysis (ELA), I investigate how microbial interactions shift across seasons and for example how winter conditions act as an ecological reset.