The Mackey Lab conducts research to better understand how photosynthesis shapes, and is shaped by, biological, chemical, and physical processes in the ocean. We study all types of phytoplankton with an emphasis on tiny and ubiquitous cyanobacteria in the genusSynechococcus. Research in the lab is focused on two overarching questions: (1) How do phytoplankton sense, acclimate, and adapt to changes in their environment? and (2) What interplay does this cause between natural populations and their environment, and how does it influence their patterns of diversity and biogeochemical activity? The lab is particularly interested in how phytoplankton will adapt to global change.