Identifying design principles for engineered ecosystems: denitrifying biofilters for sustainable agriculture

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。本研究的目的是对反硝化生物过滤器的微生物生态学有一个基本的了解，并创造改进的技术来表征这种和其他工程生态系统的可靠性和设计。将确定生物过滤器系统的物理、化学和生物参数的动态，并使用源自可靠性工程和生态学的方法来确定关键的相互作用，并开发预测和操纵结果的方法。本研究将测试三个假设：(1)少数状态变量对生物过滤器性能的影响最大；(2)多样性将导致功能冗余，而导致功能冗余最多的条件将在性能上最稳定；(3)变化的速率、范围、规律性和快速性将提供生物过滤器性能可持续性的度量。这些反硝化生物过滤器有可能大幅减少硝酸盐污染，从而改善整个美国中西部和墨西哥湾的水质。该项目的教育部分包括为本科生开发以探究为基础的课程和为工程研究生提供跨学科培训。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).0853820ZillesThe objectives of this research are to gain both a fundamental understanding of the microbial ecology of denitrifying biofilters and to create improved techniques to characterize the reliability of, and also the design of, this and other engineered ecosystems. The dynamics of the physical, chemical, and biological parameters of the biofilter system will be determined, and approaches derived from reliability engineering and ecology will be used to identify key interactions and develop ways to predict and manipulate outcomes. Three hypotheses will be tested in this research: (1) A small number of state variables will exhibit the most influence on biofilter performance, (2) diversity will lead to functional redundancy, and conditions resulting in the most functional redundancy will be most stable in performance, and (3) Rate, range, regularity, and rapidity of change will provide measures of sustainability of biofilter performance. These denitrifying biofilters have the potential to bring about substantial reductions in nitrate pollution and thereby improve water quality throughout the Midwestern US and the Gulf of Mexico. The education component of this project include the development of an inquiry-based course for undergraduates and interdisciplinary training for engineering graduate students.