OPUS: Synthesis of long-term research on hot spring microbial mats into a monograph on principles of microbial community ecology

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Biologists trained to recognize plant and animal species can understand the composition and structure of a community and obtain insight into its functioning. The same cannot be said for understanding communities constructed by microscopic organisms, as microbiologists have been "blindfolded" by limitations of traditional methods. Microscopy cannot be used to identify microorganisms, which are small and nondescript, and laboratory cultivation cannot be used to describe microbial communities because it selects for microbial species that are more fit in laboratory environments than nature. Genetic approaches developed in recent years have circumvented these limitations, but have left microbiologists with the challenge of understanding how genetic differences equate to differences among microbial species. NSF has funded long-term research on microbial mat communities inhabiting hot springs, rationalizing that intensive study of relatively simple, stable and totally microbial communities would yield insight into fundamental principles governing how individual microorganisms organize themselves to coordinate the function of a community. This award sponsors the development of a book that will detail studies of hot spring microbial mat communities over a 30 year period of transition from traditional to contemporary genetic approaches. Importantly, it will describe the maturation of a natural way to interpret genetic diversity in terms of species and their unique ecological contributions to community structure and function. The book will integrate principles of community ecology learned by studying plants and animals, in an attempt to provide all ecologists with a more principled view of microbial communities. The book's broader impact is that it will help scientists better understand (i) how to predict the response of microorganisms to changing environmental conditions, extremely important given impending global climate change and the central role microorganisms play in maintaining Earth's habitability for all life forms, and (ii) how to control microorganisms in order to facilitate processes useful to mankind.