DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Influence of Antibiotic Compounds on Soil Microbial and Invertebrate Communities

论文研究：抗生素化合物对土壤微生物和无脊椎动物群落的影响

• 批准号: 1701831
• 负责人: Michael Kaspari
• 金额: $ 1.61万
• 依托单位: University of Oklahoma Norman Campus
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2017-06-01 至 2018-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1701831&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Influence; Antibiotic; Compounds

The discovery of antibiotics was one of the scientific breakthroughs of the 20st century. While many people are familiar with how antibiotics are used for human health, the vast majority of antibiotics produced today are used to promote the health and growth of livestock. As with many medicines, up to 80% of the total dosage of active antibiotics are eliminated through animal waste, like feces and urine, and introduced to the surrounding environment. Although previous research has found more antibiotic-resistant organisms near livestock farms than generally, scientists do not fully understand how antibiotics coming from livestock waste impact important organisms in soils that are exposed to them: soil microbes, like bacteria and fungi, and invertebrates, like millipedes, pillbugs, spiders and insects. Healthy communities of microbes and invertebrates are responsible for recycling nutrients in soils and making them available to plants and the animals that eat them. This research will help scientists understand how the common practice of adding antibiotics to soils, by applying contaminated livestock manure to crop soils, may be disrupting the nutrient-cycling soil organisms, and how well these organisms can make nutrients available. Through this research, scientists, farmers and the public can promote responsible waste management practices that will help protect our ecosystems and benefit human health. The project will also train a graduate student, and American Indian volunteer researchers.Using antibiotic (tetracycline)-laden manure from cattle, this research will consist of a series of field experiments that assess how antibiotic compounds change decomposition rates in the soil, microbial respiration (an important factor in carbon and nutrient cycling), and microbial and invertebrate community composition. The researcher will also test how the microbiome of invertebrate communities raised on antibiotic-laden manure compares to those raised on untreated manure. This research fills a critical gap in our understanding of three important ecological phenomena: (1) how antibiotics affect community structure of soil microbes and invertebrates, (2) which invertebrate and microbial taxa are most important to decomposition and greenhouse gas emission, and (3) how disrupting invertebrate microbiomes drives mortality in invertebrate communities. Furthermore, by conducting our proposed study at an agricultural field site, we provide insight into what governs the health and function of a globally prominent and economically important ecosystem.

抗生素的发现是20世纪的科学突破之一。虽然很多人都熟悉抗生素是如何用于人类健康的，但今天生产的绝大多数抗生素都是用来促进牲畜的健康和生长的。与许多药物一样，高达80%的活性抗生素总剂量是通过动物排泄物消除的，如粪便和尿液，并被引入周围环境。尽管之前的研究发现畜牧场附近的抗药性生物比一般情况下更多，但科学家们并不完全了解来自家畜粪便的抗生素如何影响接触到它们的土壤中的重要生物：土壤微生物，如细菌和真菌，以及无脊椎动物，如千足虫、柱虫、蜘蛛和昆虫。微生物和无脊椎动物的健康群落负责循环土壤中的养分，并使它们可供食用它们的植物和动物使用。这项研究将帮助科学家了解在土壤中添加抗生素的常见做法，即在农作物土壤中使用受污染的牲畜粪便，可能会如何扰乱土壤中养分循环的有机体，以及这些有机体能在多大程度上提供养分。通过这项研究，科学家、农民和公众可以促进负责任的废物管理做法，这将有助于保护我们的生态系统并造福人类健康。该项目还将培训一名研究生和美国印第安人志愿者研究人员。使用含有抗生素(四环素)的牛粪便，这项研究将包括一系列田间实验，评估抗生素化合物如何改变土壤中的分解速度、微生物呼吸(碳和养分循环的重要因素)以及微生物和无脊椎动物群落组成。研究人员还将测试用富含抗生素的粪便饲养的无脊椎动物群落的微生物群与用未经处理的粪便饲养的无脊椎动物群落的微生物群进行比较。这项研究填补了我们在理解三个重要生态现象方面的关键空白：(1)抗生素如何影响土壤微生物和无脊椎动物的群落结构；(2)哪些无脊椎动物和微生物分类群对分解和温室气体排放最重要；(3)无脊椎动物微生物群的破坏如何导致无脊椎动物群落死亡。此外，通过在农业现场进行我们拟议的研究，我们提供了对全球突出的和经济上重要的生态系统的健康和功能的管理的洞察力。