CAREER: Assessing the Reactivity and Diversity of Neutrophilic Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria in Terrestrial Aquatic Environments

职业：评估陆地水生环境中嗜中性铁氧化细菌的反应性和多样性

• 批准号: 1255158
• 负责人: Owen Duckworth
• 金额: $ 40.02万
• 依托单位: North Carolina State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2019-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1255158&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Assessing; Reactivity; Diversity; Neutrophilic

Despite their ubiquity and high visibility, rust colored iron oxide deposits remain a poorly understood feature of rivers, lakes, and springs. Until recently, it was assumed that these deposits were formed by abiotic chemical processes; however, recent studies have shown that these deposits often result from the action of specific iron oxidizing bacteria. These bacterial iron oxides may have very different properties than those abiotic oxides that are traditionally used by geochemists in laboratory experiments designed to probe environmental and geochemical reactivity. The overall goal of the project is to characterize the structure, reactivity, and biological diversity of these iron oxide deposits to better understand the multifaceted roles they may play in the environment. To achieve these goals, we will conduct a suite of field, laboratory, microbiological, and spectroscopic analyses aimed at determining key properties of both the iron oxides and the bacteria associated with their formation.Results from this project will advance the fundamental understanding of the behavior of iron in aquatic environments. Because iron oxides are effective sorbents of common nutrients and contaminants, results may also provide new insights into how natural iron oxides affect the mobility and distribution of dissolved species in the environment. The project also incorporates an integrated education and outreach component designed to engage students, teachers, and the general public. In the process of collecting data, we will engage a group of high school teachers and students by conducting presentations at their schools and leading field trips to sample local iron oxide deposits. This activity will be reinforced by summer research visits to the PI's laboratory by participating high school teachers, who will conduct experiments that utilize the same field samples they helped to collect. An additional product of this project will be a map-based web resource that will present field data to help students, teachers, and other citizens understand the importance of biogeochemical processes in their local environment. These activities will help to expand awareness of the importance of geochemistry and geobiology to students and the public, and help to stimulate their curiosity about the science behind natural processes that are occurring in the world around them.

尽管铁锈色的氧化铁沉积物无处不在，能见度很高，但人们对河流、湖泊和泉水的特征知之甚少。直到最近，人们还认为这些沉积物是由非生物化学过程形成的；然而，最近的研究表明，这些沉积物往往是由特定的铁氧化细菌的作用造成的。这些细菌氧化铁可能与地球化学家在实验室实验中用于探测环境和地球化学反应性的传统非生物氧化铁具有非常不同的性质。该项目的总体目标是表征这些氧化铁沉积物的结构、反应性和生物多样性，以更好地了解它们在环境中可能发挥的多方面作用。为了实现这些目标，我们将进行一系列现场、实验室、微生物学和光谱分析，旨在确定氧化铁和与它们形成相关的细菌的关键特性。这个项目的结果将促进对铁在水生环境中的行为的基本理解。由于氧化铁是常见营养物质和污染物的有效吸附剂，研究结果也可能为了解天然氧化铁如何影响环境中溶解物种的迁移和分布提供新的见解。该项目还包括一个旨在吸引学生、教师和公众参与的综合教育和外联部分。在收集数据的过程中，我们将邀请一组高中教师和学生在他们的学校进行演讲，并带领他们实地考察当地的氧化铁矿床。参加的高中教师将在夏季访问PI的实验室进行研究，以加强这项活动，他们将利用他们帮助收集的相同的实地样本进行实验。该项目的另一项成果将是一个基于地图的网络资源，该资源将提供实地数据，以帮助学生、教师和其他公民了解生物地球化学过程在当地环境中的重要性。这些活动将有助于提高学生和公众对地球化学和地球生物学重要性的认识，并有助于激发他们对周围世界发生的自然过程背后的科学的好奇心。