MTM 1: The sandy beach microbiome: physical, chemical and biological controls on diversity and function

沙质海滩占世界未结冰海岸线的很大一部分，它们正受到海平面上升的严重威胁。它们提供重要的生态系统服务，包括水过滤和养分循环。这些过程由一起工作的微生物群落控制，这些微生物群落在海滩地下被称为微生物群落。虽然我们知道微生物群活动在这些系统中的重要性，但对这种环境中微生物群落的特征的研究有限。该项目的目标是描述海滩地下微生物群的特征，并调查控制其结构和功能的环境因素。这一目标将使用从DNA和RNA序列中提供大量遗传信息的下一代测序方法来实现。该项目的成功完成将促进不同科学领域的知识和理解，包括环境微生物学、生态学和环境工程与科学。拟议的工作将通过加深对海滩提供的生态系统服务的了解而造福社会，这些信息对于了解海平面上升对环境的影响至关重要。通过让来自不同背景的大学生参与这项研究，美国STEM劳动力的多样性将会增加。与小学教师合作，为学龄儿童创建关于细菌的学习模块，将为社会带来进一步的好处。研究小组还将在实地工作期间向公众进行宣传，教育他们关于海滩生态系统的知识，并就海平面上升问题与政府官员接触。陡峭的空间物理化学梯度和巨大的时间变化使沙质海滩的地下河口成为一个理想的研究系统，专注于确定沿海环境中微生物群落结构和功能的规律。这将通过以下方式实现：i)表征地下河口的微生物群落；ii)研究控制沙滩微生物群落动态的机制；iii)评估通过沙地运输的微生物迁移和对孔隙水化学变化的局部适应。这项研究将使用最先进的扩增子测序、元基因组学和元转录组学，以及水文学和生物地球化学的方法。这项研究通过进一步了解海滩在生物地球化学循环方面提供的生态系统服务，使社会受益。由于海滩受到海平面上升的威胁，这项工作对于充分预测海平面上升对地球的影响至关重要。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。

Sandy beaches represent a large fraction of the world’s unfrozen shoreline and they are under serious threat from sea level rise. They provide important ecosystem services including water filtration and nutrient cycling. These processes are controlled by a community of microorganisms working together called a microbiome in the beach subsurface. While we know the importance of microbiome activity in these systems, there are limited studies that characterize the microbial community in this environment. The goal of this project is to characterize the microbiome in the beach subsurface and investigate the environmental factors that control its structure and function. This goal will be achieved using next generation sequencing methods that provide vast amounts of genetic information from DNA and RNA sequences. Successful completion of this project will advance knowledge and understanding across different scientific fields including environmental microbiology, ecology, and environmental engineering and science. The proposed work will benefit society by furthering the understanding of the ecosystem services provided by beaches, information critical to understanding the impact of sea level rise on the environment. The diversity of the Nation’s STEM workforce will be increased by engaging college students from diverse backgrounds in the research. Further benefits to society will result from teaming with elementary school teachers to create learning modules on bacteria for school-aged children. The research team will also conduct outreach to the public during field work to educate them about the beach ecosystem and engage government officials on the issue of sea level rise.The steep spatial physicochemical gradients and large temporal variation make the subterranean estuary of sandy beaches an ideal study system to focus on the goal of identifying the rules governing microbiome structure and function in coastal environments. This will be achieved by i) characterizing the microbiome in the subterranean estuary, ii) investigating the mechanisms controlling sandy beach microbiome dynamics, and iii) assessing microbial immigration via transport through the sands and local adaptation to changes in porewater chemistry. The research will employ state-of-the-science amplicon sequencing, metagenomics, and metatranscriptomics together with methods from hydrology and biogeochemistry. The research benefits society by furthering the understanding of the ecosystem services provided by beaches in terms of biogeochemical cycling. As beaches are threatened by sea level rise, this work is essential to fully anticipate the effects of sea level rise on the planet.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.