Ecology of microbial communities in flooded abandoned ore mines: life after destruction

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In the provinces of Quebec and Ontario, many ore mines have been exploited in order to extract minerals. After these subsurface habitats have been destroyed by humans, the mines are abandoned and become flooded with groundwater. This groundwater contains an indigenous microbial flora, already adapted to life in dark, cold, oligotrophic environments. Mixed with the population found within the mine (soil, rocks, walls), this aquatic microbial population will give life to a whole new microbial community, which will colonize these abandoned and isolated sites, and adapt and evolve. The objectives of this project are to study the diversity, abundance, structure and metabolisms of microbial communities, as well as the geochemical processes occurring in the abandoned ore mine ecosystems. This multidisciplinary project involves the domains of microbial ecology (Dr. Lazar, PI, Biological Sciences, UQAM), environmental chemistry (Dr. Ponsin, co-PI, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, UQAM), and environmental anthropology (Dr. Jaclin, co-PI, Social Sciences Faculty, University of Ottawa). The project will be supported by a collaboration with a team of professional divers lead by K. Brown (PTO Exploration). Indeed, since these sites are completely flooded with water, the dives will be done in very difficult conditions, at depths requiring a mixed gas mixture and several decompression stops. This research project will allow us to discover new life forms, adapted to extreme conditions, which have evolved in a habitat destroyed by humans. This will lead to an understanding as to how Life, even after mankind has devastated a natural setting, can take over and colonize an abandoned habitat. This research will focus on samples collected in ancient iron (Gatineau, Quebec) and mica (Cantley, Quebec) mines. We will use molecular analyses methods (genomic and metagenomic), microbial cultures, geochemical (heavy metals, organic and inorganic carbon, anions and cations) and isotopic analyses to carry out this project. The integration of several research fields (), this multidisciplinary project will bring a high-quality training to students involved in the research, thanks to the use of state-of-the-art methods, as well as learning teamwork. This will allow the HQPs to find job in different sectors of the labour market (academia, governmental agencies, industry, environmental firms). This project will be linked to anthropological studies, allowing us to retrace the history of ore mines, and to understand the impact of human underground ecosystems' colonization.