Being an academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor Jiao Nianzhi from College of Ocean and Earth Sciences and his group have won the second-class National Prize of Natural Science of 2015 with their research “The role of microorganisms in ocean carbon storage and climate change”.

It is universally acknowledged that microorganisms play a significantly vital role in global change. Professor Jiao and his group take the ocean carbon cycle as the main line and study the ecological process and environmental effects from both macro and micro perspectives. They use an important function group, the aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic bacteria (AAPB), as the breakthrough point. Through the innovative method and large-scale in-situ research, they have carried out the new mechanisms of marine biological carbon storage which has become an international research focus and has promoted the discipline development.