Engineering of complex adaptive microbial ecosystems

生态系统是一个有机体群落，它们相互作用，并与周围环境相互作用。如果对这些互动过程有充分的了解，就可以创建和管理生态系统以提供具体的服务。例如，一些微生物生态系统提供有用的服务，如堆肥，而农业生态系统被管理来提供食物。纳入自然过程的生态系统更具可持续性，因为它们更多地由阳光等可再生投入驱动，因此对化石燃料等不可再生投入的依赖较少。然而，自然生态系统的动力学是极其复杂的，因此，应用生态学理论来设计特定目的的生态系统仍然是初级的。在这项研究中，将以中试规模堆肥容器的形式构建微生物生态系统。这些容器将被安装仪器，以允许自动测量过程参数，如温度、气流、相对湿度以及入口和排气的组成。计算机接口将允许这些信息用于开发堆肥过程中相互关联的物理、化学和微生物方面的高级数值模型。最后，反馈控制系统将使用这些模型来控制过程参数，并针对特定目标优化系统，例如减少有害气体或温室气体排放或提高处理速度。该研究计划的最终目标是使用这些中试规模的系统来检验生态假说，并学习如何更好地将生态学理论应用于包括活有机体在内的系统的工程中。从事这项研究的学生将在微生物生态系统的实时表征、建模和控制方面变得非常熟练。他们获得的知识也将适用于对其他类型生态系统的理解和工程设计，改善为社会提供关键服务的所有规模生态系统的可持续性，如生产食物、纤维和能源，以及净化水和空气。

An ecosystem is a community of organisms that interact with each other and with their surroundings. Given an adequate understanding of these interactive processes, ecosystems can be created and managed to provide specific services. Some microbial ecosystems, for instance, provide useful services such as composting, and agricultural ecosystems are managed to provide food. Ecosystems that are engineered to incorporate natural processes are more sustainable because they are driven more by renewable inputs such as sunlight, and therefore depend less on nonrenewable inputs such as fossil fuels. The dynamics of natural ecosystems are extremely complex, however, and so the application of ecological theory to engineer ecosystems for specific purposes is still rudimentary. In this research, microbial ecosystems will be constructed in the form of pilot-scale compost vessels. The vessels will be instrumented to allow automated measurement of process parameters such as temperature, airflow, relative humidity, and the composition of inlet and exhaust gases. A computer interface will allow this information to be used in the development of advanced numerical models of the interrelated physical, chemical, and microbial aspects of the composting process. Finally, a feedback control system will use these models to control the process parameters and optimize the system for specific goals, such as reduced noxious or greenhouse gas emissions or increased processing rate. The ultimate objective in this research program is to use these pilot-scale systems to test ecological hypotheses, and to learn how to better apply ecological theory in the engineering of systems that include living organisms. The students that work on this research will become highly skilled in the real-time characterization, modeling, and control of microbial ecosystems. The knowledge that they gain will also be applicable to the understanding and engineering of other kinds of ecological systems, improving the sustainability of ecosystems of all scales that provide critical services to society, such as the production of food, fibre, and energy, and the cleansing of water and air.