About

Douglas George Capone

William and Julie Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies and Professor of Biological Sciences

Contact Information
E-mail: capone@usc.edu
Phone: (213) 740-2772
Office: AHF 108

LINKS
Curriculum Vitae
Lab Home Page
 

Biographical Sketch
Douglas G. Capone received his Ph.D. in Oceanography from the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences of the University of Miami (Fl) in 1978. He joined the faculty of the Marine Sciences Research Center of Stony Brook University (NY) in 1979 and the Center for Environmental Science of the University of Maryland in 1987. Since 1999, he has held the Wrigley Chair of Environmental Biology at the University of Southern California and is currently Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His research focuses on the role and importance of marine microbes in major biogeochemical cycles, particularly those of nitrogen and carbon, both from the perspective of the fundamental ecology of these ecosystems and their physical, chemical and biotic factors controls. Capone has studied diverse systems including the tropical open ocean, coral reefs, mangroves, temperate estuaries, groundwater aquifers and Antarctic snows. He has participated in over 30 major oceanographic expeditions to the tropical Atlantic, Caribbean and Pacific Oceans including to the Great Barrier Reef, over 10 as chief scientist. He has also conducted research at remote field stations in the Caribbean, Great Barrier Reef, McMurdo and South Pole Stations of the US Polar Program. He uses diverse approaches and technologies (e.g. of physiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, geochemistry and remote sensing). He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals including Science and Nature. His research has been supported by NSF, NASA, NOAA, EPA and USGS (among others). In 1999, he received and led two major NSF grants targeting Biocomplexity in the Environment in which he organized multi-investigator teams composed of biological, chemical, geochemical and physical oceanographers, atmospheric chemists and modelers. He continues to collaborate with researchers in diverse fields and countries (e.g. Australia, France, Germany). Professor Capone is a leading expert on the marine N cycle. He is called upon frequently to provide definitive overviews on the subject. In the last year, he gave synthesis papers at international workshops in England and India. He produced a still highly regarded edited volume on the marine nitrogen cycle (Nitrogen in the Marine Environment, 1983, Academic Press) and has just completed the updated second edition, now in press, as lead Editor. In particular, he has shown nitrogen fixation to be a key biogeochemical process in several marine ecosystems. He documented the quantitative importance of nitrogen fixation in tropical seagrass ecosystems during his Ph.D. studies. More recently, he has focused on open ocean systems and organisms such as the cyanobacterium Trichodesmium, ubiquitous through the tropical ocean and a substantial source of fixed nitrogen. His work has revealed how nitrogen fixation may be a major determinant of the capacity of the oligotrophic tropical oceans to take up atmospheric carbon dioxide. Professor Capone has taken a leadership role in national environmental research programs. He has also made a major contribution to the development of human resources in oceanography and environmental science. He has successfully mentored 11 M.S., 12 Ph.D. students and 12 Postdoctoral fellows as well as numerous undergraduates. His students have gone on in the fields of Chemical and Biological Oceanography, Hydrology, and Environmental Microbiology. Over half of his graduate students (8) and postdoctoral associates (7) have been female.
 

Education
B.S. Biology, University of Miami, 12/1973
Ph.D. Biological Oceanography, University of Miami, Rosensteil School of Marine & Atmospheric Sciences, 12/1978
 

Academic Appointment, Affiliation, and Employment History

Tenure Track Appointments
Professor, Center for Environmental Sciences, University of Maryland, 07/01/1987-08/01/1999  
Associate Professor, Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University, 09/01/1984-06/01/1987  
 

Non-Tenure Track Appointments
Research Assistant Professor, Marine Sciences Research Center, Stony Brook University, 03/01/1979-08/31/1984  
 

Visiting and Temporary Appointments
Visiting Scientist, Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, 03/08/2007-04/08/2007  
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Fellow, Laboratoire d'Océanographie de Villefranche, 09/01/2006-02/28/2007  
Research Collaborator, Department of Chemistry, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 1984-1991  
 

Description of Research

Summary Statement of Research Interests
Learning about bacteria's ability to promote the absorption of the greenhouse gas may shed light on how the oceans can mitigate the effects of pollution. That's partially why Capone researches the role and importance of marine bacteria in major biogeochemical cycles particularly those of nitrogen and carbon, as well as the response of these populations to, and interactions with, various environmental perturbations. Professor Capone is currently studying the importance of nitrogen fixation in the biogeochemistry of the oceans and the major groups of organisms involved in this process. He is also involved in other studies including experimental manipulation of nutrient dynamics in coral reefs systems, the examination of South Pole snows for active populations of bacteria, and analyses of microbial processes in mangrove ecosystems.
 

Research Keywords
Marine microbial ecology, biogeochemistry, nitrogen fixation, biocomplexity, mangrove, ecosystem, bacteria
 

Research Specialties
Marine biochemistry, microbiology, biogeochemistry and microbial ecology. The microbial ecology of nitrogen transformations with particular emphasis on nitrogen fixation. Pollutant impact on the microbiota of marine sediments and the role of microorganisms in environmental detoxification.
 

Funded Research

Contracts and Grants Awarded
Biogeochemistry of Cyanobacterial Mats and Hyporheic Zone Microbes in McMurdo Dry Valley glacial mel (National Science Foundation), D.G. Capone, $375,000, 09/01/2008-08/31/2011  
RELATING MICROBIAL BIODIVERSITY TO BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHIC (National Science Foundation), Jed Fuhrman, Douglas Capone, $553,151, 09/15/2005-08/31/2009  
SGER: Exploratory Studies Of Marine Microbes Using Nanosims (National Science Foundation), D.G. Capone, $120,315, 09/15/2007-02/28/2009  
PHYSIOLOGICAL AND STOICHIOMETRIC INVESTIGATIONS OF MARINE (National Science Foundation), D.G. Capone, Dale Keifer, $508,314, 03/01/2005-02/28/2009  
 

Affiliations with Research Centers, Labs, and Other Institutions
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Collaborator
Wrigley Institute for Environmental Studies, Member of Wrigley affiliated faculty,http://wrigley.usc.edu
 

Publications

Book
Capone, D. G., Bronk, D., Mulholland, M., Carpenter, E. J. (2008). Nitrogen in the Marine Environment, 2nd edition. San Diego: Academic Press/ Elsevier.
 

Book Chapter
Carpenter, E. J., Capone, D. G. (2008). Nitrogen Fixation in the Marine Environment. pp. 141-198. San Diego: Elsevier, Academic Press.
 

Journal Article
Duce, R., LaRoche, J., Altier, K., Arrigo, K., Baker, A., Capone, D. G., et, a. (2008). Impacts of Atmospheric Anthropogenic Nitrogen on the Open Ocean. Science. Vol. 320, pp. 893-897.
Subramaniam, A., Yager, P., Carpenter, E., Mahaffey, C., Bjorkman, K., Cooley, S., Montoya, J., Sanudo-Wilhelmy, S., Shipe, R., Capone, D. G. (2008). Amazon River enhances diazotrophy and carbon sequestration in the tropical North Atlantic Ocean. Proceedings, National Academy of Sciences. Vol. 105, pp. DOI 10.1073/pnas.0710279105.
Sohm, J. A., Mahaffey, C., Capone, D. G. (2008). Assessment of relative phosphorus limitation of Trichodesmium spp. in the North Pacific and Atlantic and the north coast of Australia. Limnology and Oceanography. Vol. 53, pp. 2495-2502.
Shipe, R. F., Carpenter, E. J., Govil, S. R., Capone, D. G. (2007). Limitation of phytoplankton production by Si and N in the Western Atlantic Ocean. Marine Ecology Progress Series. Vol. 338, pp. 33-45.
Popa, R., Weber, P., Finzi, J., Fallon, S., Pett-Ridge, J., Hutcheon, I., Nealson, K., Capone, D. G. (2007). Carbon and nitrogen fixation and metabolite exchange in and between individual cells of Anabaena oscillarioides. The International Society of Microbial Ecology Journal. Vol. 1, pp. 354-360 doi:10.1038/ismej.2007.44.
Montoya, J. P., Voss, M., Capone, D. G. (2007). Spatial variation in N2-fixation rate and diazotroph activity in the Tropical Atlantic. Biogeosciences. Vol. 4,, pp. 369-376.
Foster, R. A., Capone, D. G., Carpenter, E. J., Mahaffey, C., Subramaniam, A., Zehr, J. P. (2007). Influence of the Amazon River plume on distributions of free-living and symbiotic cyanobacteria in the western tropical north Atlantic Ocean. Limnology and Oceangraphy. Vol. 52, pp. 517-532.
Sohm, J., Capone, D. G. (2006). Phosphorus dynamics of the tropical and subtropical north Atlantic: Trichodesmium versus bulk plankton. Marine Ecology: Progress Series. Vol. 317, pp. 21-28.
 

Honors and Awards
Fellow (or Equivalent) of National Society in Discipline, Fellow, American Geophysical Union, 2008-  
Fellow (or Equivalent) of National Society in Discipline, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2007-  
Fellow (or Equivalent) of National Society in Discipline, Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology, 2004-  
Endowed Chair, William and Julie Wrigley Chair in Environmental Studies, 9/1/1999-8/15/2009  
Fellow, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), 2006-2007   
Anarctic Service Medal, 2000-2001   
 

Service to the University

Administrative Appointments
Chair, Biological Sciences, 2007-2010  
Director, Marine Environmental Biology Section of BISC, 2003-2006  
 

Service to the Profession

Editorships and Editorial Boards
Editor, Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 2007-2008  
Editorial Board, Global Change Biology, 1995-2008  
Editorial Board, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 1993-2008  
 

Professional Offices
Secretary, International Symposium on Environmental Biogeochemistry, 1997-2007  
 

Professional Memberships
American Geophsical Union, 1995-2007  
Americal Society of Limnology and Oceanography, 1975-2007  
American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1975-2007  
American Society for Microbiology, 1975-2007  
 
 
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