Ecology of Hot Spring Microbial Mat Communities: Causes and Importance of Biodiversity

摘要 97-08136温泉微生物垫群落的病房生态学：生物多样性的原因和重要性。 这项研究的目的是确定导致植物和动物物种进化的相同力量是否也导致了微生物物种的进化。我们使用分子方法来检测天然地热环境中迄今未被识别的微生物，这些微生物可作为了解微生物物种的生物多样性，生态学和进化的模型系统。我们将研究我们在黄石国家公园温泉中检测到的细菌是否像加拉帕戈斯雀一样进化，通过适应特定的环境特征（例如， 温度、光照、pH值、硫化物），以及地理上分开的温泉中的细菌是否构成不同的物种（就像不同大陆上不会飞的鸟一样）。 这些发现将帮助我们定义细菌物种，并获得其生态重要性的预测知识，以及它们在潜在生物技术应用中的恢复。尽管我们广泛使用微生物产品，如抗生素，但科学界已知的微生物物种不到1%。

ABSTRACT 97-08136 Ward Ecology of hot spring microbial mat communities: Causes and importance of biodiversity. The objective of this research is to determine whether the same forces that caused the evolution of plant and animal species also caused the evolution of microbial species. We use molecular methods to detect heretofore unrecognized microorganisms in natural geothermal environments, which serve as model systems for understanding the biodiversity, ecology and evolution of microbial species. We will study whether the bacteria we have detected in Yellowstone National Park hot springs evolved-like Galapagos finches-by adapting to specific environmental features (e.g., temperature, light, pH, sulfide), and whether bacteria in geographically separated hot springs constitute different species (like flightless birds on different continents). These findings will help us define what bacterial species are, and gain a predictive knowledge of their ecological importance and of their recovery for potential biotechnological use. Despite out extensive use of microbial products such as antibiotics, fewer than 1% of the species of microorganisms are known to science.