Controlled Environment Facilities for the Marine Biological Laboratory

该项目将为海洋生物实验室（MBL - https://www.mbl.edu）新的受控环境设施提供资金。这将为扩大植物和土壤过程以及微生物与动植物相互作用的研究提供新的能力。全球变化是一个多因素现象，这使得研究生物和生态系统将如何应对未来的变化更具挑战性。需要能够同时控制多个相关环境驱动因素的设施来解决相关的全球变化问题。这些设施将用于支持广泛主题的研究和教育，包括气候变化和人类土地利用对陆地和水生生态系统的影响，土壤和沉积物中温室气体释放的控制，光合作用进化的研究，植物和动物微生物组的研究，以及对极端环境下微生物群落和微生物代谢能力的研究。该设施将供教师、访问科学家和学生使用。该项目将安装两个新的Conviron生长室，配备最先进的温度、二氧化碳、湿度和照明系统，以取代旧的系统。这两个新试验室还将配备一个新的控制系统，允许对试验室和实验进行远程监控。通过将三个压缩机移到室外，容纳新生长室的房间将大大改善，减少房间内的噪音。为了研究微生物活动的环境控制，该项目还将包括安装一个Coy厌氧室，以便制备厌氧微生物培养物和需要严格厌氧条件的实验。该室将使MBL全年与厌氧微生物进行多样化工作的新能力成为可能。安装新生长室的房间将通过将三个压缩机（两个新室的压缩机和一个现有室的压缩机）移到室外来大大改善，从而大大降低了房间内的噪音。MBL的生长室已被广泛用于各级教育，从高中到博士水平的工作，学生将继续使用新的设施。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This project will provide funds for new controlled environment facilities at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL - https://www.mbl.edu). This will provide new capabilities to expand research on plant and soil processes, and microbial interactions with plants and animals. Global change is a multi-factor phenomenon making the study of how organisms and ecosystems will respond to future changes all the more challenging. Facilities which can simultaneously control multiple relevant environmental drivers are needed to address relevant global change questions. These facilities will be used to support research and education on a broad array of topics, which include the effects of climate change and human land use on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, controls on greenhouse gas release from soils and sediments, studies on the evolution of photosynthesis, studies on the microbiome of plants and animals, and investigations into the metabolic capabilities of microbial communities and microbes living in extreme environments. The facility will be used by faculty, visiting scientists and students. The project will install two new Conviron growth chambers equipped with state of the art temperature, CO2, humidity, and lighting systems to replace older systems. The two new chambers will also be equipped with a new control system allowing for remote monitoring of the chambers and experiments. The room housing the new growth chambers will be greatly improved by moving three compressors outside, reducing the noise in the room. For studies of environmental controls over microbial activities the project will also include the installation of a Coy anaerobic chamber enabling preparation of anaerobic microbial cultures and experiments requiring strict anaerobic conditions. This chamber will enable new capacity for diverse work with anaerobic microbes year-round at the MBL. The room housing the new growth chambers will be greatly improved by moving three compressors (those for the two new chambers, and one for an existing chamber) outside, greatly reducing the noise in the room. MBL’s growth chambers have been heavily used for education at all levels, from high school to Ph.D. level work and students will continue to have access to the new facilities.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.