BIOCOMPLEXITY -- INCUBATION ACTIVITY: Origins of Biocomplexity: Colonization and Succession of Microbial Communities in a Dynamic Geochemical Environment

生物复杂性——孵化活动：生物复杂性的起源：动态地球化学环境中微生物群落的定殖和演替

• 批准号: 0083837
• 负责人: Stephen Cary
• 金额: $ 8.7万
• 依托单位: University of Delaware
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2000
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2000-12-01 至 2002-11-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0083837&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: BIOCOMPLEXITY; INCUBATION; ACTIVITY; Origins; Biocomplexity

One of the primary mandates of the Biocomplexity initiative is to understand how biocomplexity arises and changes in response to changing physical/chemical environments. Quantifying the influence of local geochemistry on the establishment and evolution of microbial systems is best achieved by studying environments where steep physical and chemical gradients exist over a small spatial scale. The primary goal of this Biocomplexity Incubation Activity is to establish a new collaboration among microbiologists from the University of Delaware and geochemists from Arizona State University. They will develop strategies for measuring and collecting physical, chemical, and microbiological data, and preliminary testing of novel devices for seafloor sampling. This interdisciplinary team of researchers brings with them expertise in high pressure/high temperature experiments, fluid/mineral geochemistry and spectroscopy, molecular microbiology, engineering, and seafloor vent studies. They will accomplish the research goals through real and virtual meetings, design of new sampling devices, and participation in a vent cruise. An investigation will be initiated of how microbial colonization is influenced by the dynamic thermochemical gradients and variable mineral/fluid chemistry of deep?sea hydrothermal vents and, in turn, how the presence of microorganisms influences the local geochemistry. Young seafloor hydrothermal chimneys will be examined because they represent one of the few environments on Earth that are known to evolve rapidly from strictly abiotic conditions to complex microbial communities in a short time period (days to weeks). These high?temperature systems offer access to intense thermochemical gradients that are characterized by rapid and predictable mineral precipitation and chimney growth. These sulfide structures can be manipulated in situ, providing reliable access to both the initial abiotic geochemical system and progressive stages of microbial colonization. Appropriate measurements of fluid chemistry, mineralogy, pore structure, and microbial communities in these environments provide the constraints for recreation of these systems in the laboratory for detailed and quantitative examination. Examining microbial colonization in these dynamic geochemical environments provides a unique opportunity to understand the diverse and complex interactions between microbes and fluid/mineral evolution.

生物复杂性计划的主要任务之一是了解生物复杂性如何产生以及如何响应不断变化的物理/化学环境而变化。量化当地地球化学对微生物系统建立和进化的影响最好通过研究小空间尺度上存在陡峭物理和化学梯度的环境来实现。此次生物复杂性孵化活动的主要目标是在特拉华大学的微生物学家和亚利桑那州立大学的地球化学家之间建立新的合作。他们将制定测量和收集物理、化学和微生物数据的策略，并对海底采样的新型设备进行初步测试。这个跨学科的研究团队带来了高压/高温实验、流体/矿物地球化学和光谱学、分子微生物学、工程学和海底喷口研究方面的专业知识。他们将通过真实和虚拟会议、设计新采样设备以及参与通风口巡游来实现研究目标。 将开始研究深海热液喷口的动态热化学梯度和可变矿物/流体化学如何影响微生物定植，以及微生物的存在如何影响当地的地球化学。年轻的海底热液烟囱将受到检查，因为它们代表了地球上为数不多的已知在短时间内（几天到几周）从严格的非生物条件迅速演变为复杂的微生物群落的环境之一。这些高温系统提供了强烈的热化学梯度，其特征是快速且可预测的矿物沉淀和烟囱生长。这些硫化物结构可以在原位进行操作，为初始非生物地球化学系统和微生物定植的进展阶段提供可靠的途径。对这些环境中的流体化学、矿物学、孔隙结构和微生物群落的适当测量为在实验室中重新创建这些系统以进行详细和定量检查提供了限制。检查这些动态地球化学环境中的微生物定殖为了解微生物与流体/矿物演化之间多样化且复杂的相互作用提供了独特的机会。