CAREER: Geochemical and functional controls of methane-mediating microbes in Amazon peatlands

这个职业项目将研究微生物如何影响亚马逊泥炭地甲烷气体的生产和消费。这项研究将填补热带生态系统研究中的一个重要知识空白，并对更好地了解区域到全球环境变化具有重要意义。创建一个预测模型来了解生态系统中的甲烷循环将影响环境科学、生态系统管理和区域大气预测。此外，这项研究具有关键的教育目标和推广努力，将架起研究、教育和社会参与的桥梁。在基于探究的学习(IBL)教学和培训方法的基础上，该项目将产生以研究微生物为中心的持续培训和研究活动工具。所有教育产品都将通过在线平台广泛使用。该项目还将增加来自代表性不足群体的本科生参与研究和生物科学活动。最后，该项目将促进公众在涉及微生物的环境研究中的国际合作和参与，包括关于热带环境的研究过程和科学成果的共享。亚马逊泥炭地目前和过去都是甲烷通量的关键区域贡献者，但人们对其甲烷中介微生物的活动或季节性洪水事件的地球化学特征如何影响甲烷通量知之甚少。这项研究中要检验的假设包括：i)甲烷通量是一个过程，其中生物和环境控制的强度和预测性随着研究的空间尺度而变化；ii)基于特征的微生物模拟提高了在不同空间尺度和不同亚马逊洪水期预测CH4通量的准确性。这些假设将通过将微生物分布与亚马逊年度洪水前后泥炭地土壤地球化学生态位的确定联系起来，通过分离和测试在标准或模拟的“洪水”条件下甲烷中介微生物的功能能力，以及通过开发一个基于特征的模型来整合局部(米)或更广泛(公里)空间尺度上的甲烷通量的地球化学和微生物功能限制。多种产品，包括微生物和生态位的地理空间地图，亚马逊微生物的功能特征目录，以及基于特征的建模，将被整合到一个特定于地点的模型中，该模型包括对来自对比鲜明的亚马逊泥炭地的甲烷循环微生物的生理和地球化学控制。面向本科生教育和社会广泛参与的教育探究式学习产品也将被开发并公开提供，以进一步促进这项工作的贡献和成果的传播。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This CAREER project will examine how microorganisms influence the production and consumption of methane gas in Amazon peatlands. The research will fill an important knowledge gap in the study of tropical ecosystems and is important for a better understanding of regional to global environmental change. Creating a predictive model to understand methane cycling in ecosystems will impact environmental sciences, ecosystem management and regional atmospheric predictions. Also, this research has key educational goals and outreach efforts that will bridge research, education and societal participation. Building on Inquiry Based Learning (IBL) teaching and training approaches, this project will generate continuous training and research activity tools centered on studying microorganisms. All education products will be broadly accessible via online platforms. The project will also increase participation of undergraduate students from underrepresented groups in research and biological science activities. Finally, the project will promote international collaboration and participation of the public in environmental studies involving microorganisms, including the research process and sharing of scientific results on tropical environments.Amazon peatlands are key regional contributors of methane flux currently and in the past, however little is known about the activity of their methane-mediating microbes or how the geochemical characteristics of seasonal flooding events affect methane flux rates. The hypotheses to be tested in this study include: i) methane flux is a process where the strength and predictiveness of biological and environmental controls vary according to the spatial scale in study; and ii) trait based microbial modeling increases accuracy in CH4 flux predictions at variable spatial scales and variable Amazon flood periods. These hypotheses will be addressed by linking the microbial distribution and the determination of peatland soil geochemical niches before and after Amazon annual floods, by isolating and testing the functional capacities of CH4-mediating microbes at standard or simulated "flood" conditions, and by developing a trait-based model to integrate geochemical and microbe functional limits on CH4 flux at local (meter) or broader (kilometer) spatial scales. Multiple products including geospatial mapping of microbes and niches, catalogs of functional traits in Amazon microbes, and trait based modeling will be integrated in a site-specific model inclusive of the physiological and geochemical controls on methane cycling microbes from contrasting Amazon peatlands. Educational Inquiry-based learning products for undergraduate education and broad society participation will also be developed and be made publicly available to further the contribution and dissemination of results from this work.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.