Measuring pesticide exposure and microbial-level impacts in soil ecosystems using novel passive sampler devices

微生物代表了最低的营养水平和食物网的入口，是化学胁迫下土壤生态系统健康的关键指标。这个跨学科项目将结合我们在分析化学、土壤科学、基因组测序和机器学习方面的专业知识，开发和验证一种测量土壤影响的新技术。具体来说，这将集中在土壤被动采样探针装置（PSD）的发展。该探针将容纳物理，化学和微生物采样功能，以显示特定指示分类群和更广泛的土壤微生物组在暴露于（农业）化学品时如何受到影响。这个项目的关键是我们独特的能力，可以扩大这项研究的规模，并在受控土壤中部署大量的PSD探针。利用宏基因组测序数据，机器学习将用于识别受不同化学类别影响的指示分类群，并评估其作为生物传感器的潜在用途。最终，该项目将为土壤微生物学和化学采样提供新的，多功能和适应性强的探针，再加上可扩展的支持分析方法，以更好地了解化学运输，命运和微生物影响。重要的是，该项目将首次为可持续利用微生物作为陆地环境中化学影响的生物传感器提供急需的证据基础。

Microbes represent the lowest trophic level and entry point to the food web and are critical indicators of soil ecosystem health under chemical stress.This interdisciplinary project will combine our expertise in analytical chemistry, soil science, genomic sequencing, and machine learning to develop and validate a new technology to measure impacts in soil. Specifically, this will focus on the development of a passive sampling probe device (PSD) for soil. This probe will house physical, chemical, and microbial sampling functions to show how specific indicator taxa and the wider soil microbiome are affected upon exposure to (agri)chemicals.Key to this project is our unique capability to scale this study up and deploy a large number of PSD probes in controlled-condition soils. Using metagenomic sequencing data, machine learning will be used to identify indicator taxa that have been impacted by different chemical classes and evaluate their potential use as biosensors.Ultimately, this project will provide new, multifunctional and adaptable probes for soil microbiology and chemistry sampling, coupled with scalable supporting analytical methodologies to better understand chemical transport, fate and microbial impacts.Importantly, this project will provide a much-needed evidence base for the sustainable use of microbes as biosensors of chemical impacts in the terrestrial environment for the first time.