Microbial heterotrophy in reducing habitats

微生物通过其分解活动循环有机物质和营养物质，在海洋生态系统中起着至关重要的作用。我们一般都知道，海洋微生物群落通过调整代谢途径（功能反应）或改变物种组成（结构反应）来适应环境的变化。该研究项目将在深海热液喷口和缺氧峡湾的极端栖息地中，在不同类型的环境强迫下，研究这两种反应的相对重要性。我们将通过酶和基因指纹分析从不同的喷口栖息地收集的微生物样本，以及从峡湾深水缺氧和再氧化循环的不同点收集的微生物样本，来比较这些响应机制。本研究将对了解污水和水产养殖中营养负荷胁迫下沿海水域微生物群落动态具有应用价值。海底微生物群落的氧气消耗和硫化氢产生可以深刻地影响鱼类和无脊椎动物的栖息地适宜性。

Microorganisms play a vital role in marine ecosystems by recycling organic matter and nutrients through their decomposition activity. We know in a general way that communities of marine microbes adapt to changes in their environment by adjusting their metabolic pathways (functional response) or by changing their species composition (structural response). This research program will examine the relative importance of these two types of response, under different types of environmental forcing, in the extreme habitats found at deep-sea hydrothermal vents and in an anoxic fjord. We will compare these response mechanisms by enzyme and genetic fingerprinting of microbial samples collected from contrasting vent habitats, and from different points in the cycle of anoxia and re-oxygenation of the deep waters of the fjord. This research will have applications for understanding microbial community dynamics in coastal waters subject to nutrient loading stress from sewage and aquaculture.  Oxygen consumption and hydrogen sulphide production by seafloor microbial communities can profoundly affect habitat suitability for fish and invertebrates.