HBCU-UP Research Initiation Award Grant: Response of Microbial Communities to Short-Timescale In-situ Soil Moisture Dynamics

HBCU-UP 研究启动奖资助：微生物群落对短时间尺度原位土壤湿度动态的响应

• 批准号: 1238929
• 负责人: Jessica Furrer
• 金额: $ 19.95万
• 依托单位: Benedict College
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-15 至 2015-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1238929&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: HBCU; UP; Research; Initiation; Award

The Research Initiation Award entitled - Response of Microbial Communities to Short-Timescale In-situ Soil Moisture Dynamics - seeks to understand the role of microbial communities in the global carbon cycle, which is the subject of much interest in light of current needs to quantify, model and manage carbon inputs to the atmosphere. Soil water content is a critical determinant of microbial heterotrophic activity and is therefore the single most important parameter linking the water cycle and the carbon cycle in terrestrial habitats. There is a need to integrate a physically-based understanding of soil water processes with an in-depth study of their effects on the microbial community at multiple trophic levels.The research hypothesis of this work is that microbial responses to wetting/drying cycles vary among microbial taxa primarily as a result of two factors: 1) differences in physiological responses to desiccation, and 2) varying locations within the soil matrix resulting in differential exposure to desiccation stresses. The two trophic levels under consideration in this project are bacteria and bactivorous protozoa. The study will quantify the dynamics of soil microbial community structure as a time-dependent function of soil moisture, then target specific taxa showing appreciable changes. Follow-on work will examine which factor is most influential in determining the desiccation response for specific microbial taxa. The project includes undergraduate students by providing them with an opportunity to gain research skills in both microbial ecology and soil hydrology, making them attractive candidates for graduate-level study in the environmental field or in industry.

题为“微生物群落对短期原位土壤水分动态的反应”的研究启动奖旨在了解微生物群落在全球碳循环中的作用，鉴于目前对量化，建模和管理大气碳输入的需求，这是一个非常感兴趣的主题。土壤含水量是微生物异养活动的关键决定因素，因此是联系陆地栖息地水循环和碳循环的最重要参数。有必要将对土壤水分过程的物理基础理解与其对多营养水平微生物群落影响的深入研究相结合。这项工作的研究假设是微生物对湿润/干燥循环的反应在微生物类群之间存在差异，主要是由于两个因素：1）对干燥的生理反应的差异，和2）土壤基质中不同的位置导致不同的干燥应力暴露。本项目考虑的两个营养级是细菌和细菌性原生动物。该研究将量化土壤微生物群落结构的动态作为土壤水分的时间依赖性函数，然后针对表现出明显变化的特定类群。后续的工作将检查哪一个因素是最有影响力的，在确定特定的微生物类群的干燥反应。该项目包括本科生，为他们提供获得微生物生态学和土壤水文学研究技能的机会，使他们成为环境领域或工业领域研究生水平研究的有吸引力的候选人。