Collaborative Research: BoCP-Design: Climate change alteration of soils functional biodiversity of the Paramos, Colombia

PáRamos是嵌套在安第斯山脉中心的高海拔苔原生态系统。这些寒冷潮湿的环境是大量动植物和昆虫的家园。巴拉莫斯是包括哥伦比亚首都波哥大在内的下游城市中心的重要水源。此外，由于有机质分解速度缓慢，PáRamos土壤含有大量的有机碳储量。除了是一个远离大气的碳库，这个巨大的有机物质储存库还控制着土壤的水力和肥力特性。巴拉莫斯群岛独特的地理位置，海拔2800米以上，使它们非常容易受到气候变化的影响。事实上，这些生态系统的表面积预计在未来50年内将减少一半，可能会导致它们提供的基本服务的损失。该项目旨在描述哥伦比亚PáRamos土壤中微生物的多样性，并调查气候变化将如何影响微生物的功能。考虑到微生物代谢的即时和长期变化可能会影响PáRamos土壤储存有机碳和调节下游水流的能力，这项研究具有重要意义。为了研究气候变化对PáRamos生态系统的连锁效应，该项目将启动跨学科专家之间的合作，将地下微生物群落的研究与地上植被功能相结合。该项目还将吸引高中生和本科生，他们将共同努力，在波哥大附近的钦加扎国家自然公园开发和部署低成本的长期土壤监测数据记录仪。该项目将解决解决水分和温度对PáRamos土壤中有机碳命运的影响的迫切需要，同时建立一个能够将研究范围扩大到生态系统层面的跨学科团队。该项目包括建立受控的土壤中隔系统，使其能够独立地改变水分和温度水平。此外，将使用元基因组学和扩增子测序来研究土壤微生物组的功能，并将部署探针，以启动对土壤对气候变化的响应的现场长期监测。该项目最终将组织一次国际PáRamos研讨会，该研讨会将为未来的系统研究确定优先事项。研讨会将汇集来自不同领域的科学家，讨论地上和地下生态系统功能之间的联系，并计划未来在预测气候变化对PáRamos范围的影响方面的合作。这一奖项反映了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。

Páramos are high-altitude tundra ecosystems nested at the heart of the Andes mountains. These cold and humid environments are home to a multitude of plants, animals, and insects. Páramos are a critical water source for downstream urban centers, including Colombia's capital city, Bogota. Additionally, the Páramos soils contain substantial organic carbon reserves due to slow rates of organic matter decomposition. Beyond being a pool of carbon sequestered away from the atmosphere, this large reservoir of organic matter controls the soils’ hydraulic and fertility properties. The Páramos’ unique geographic location, at an elevation above 2,800 m above sea level, makes them highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. In fact, these ecosystems’ surface areas are projected to shrink by half within the next 50 years possibly causing loss of the essential services they provide. This project aims to characterize the microbial diversity in the Páramos soils in Colombia and investigate how climate change will affect microbes’ functions. The research is of high importance, considering that immediate and long-term changes in microbial metabolism could impact the ability of Páramos soils to store organic carbon and regulate downstream water flow. To study the cascading effect of climate change on Páramos ecosystems, this project will jumpstart collaborations among transdisciplinary experts that will integrate the research of below-ground microbial communities with above-ground vegetation functions. The project will also engage high school and undergraduate students that will work together to develop and deploy low-cost long-term soil monitoring data loggers in Chingaza National Natural Park, near the city of Bogota. This project will address the critical need to disentangle the effect of moisture and temperature on the fate of organic carbon in Páramos soils while building a transdisciplinary team capable of expanding the scope of the research to an ecosystem level. The project includes establishing controlled soil mesocosms that will allow to independently vary moisture and temperature levels. Additionally, functions of the soil microbiome will be investigated using metagenomics and amplicon sequencing, and probes will be deployed to initiate long-term monitoring of the soil response to climate change in situ. This project will culminate in the organization of an international Páramos symposium that will set up priorities for future systems research. The symposium will bring together scientists from diverse fields to discuss the linkages between above-ground and below-ground ecosystem functions and plan future collaborations in predicting Páramos-wide effects of climate change.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.