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

在魁北克省和安大略省，为了提取矿物，已经开采了许多矿坑。在这些地下栖息地被人类破坏后，矿井被废弃，并被地下水淹没。这种地下水含有一种本地微生物菌群，已经适应了黑暗、寒冷、少营养的环境。与矿内发现的种群（土壤、岩石、墙壁）混合在一起，这些水生微生物种群将给一个全新的微生物群落带来生命，它们将在这些被遗弃和孤立的地方定居，并适应和进化。该项目的目的是研究废弃矿山生态系统中微生物群落的多样性、丰度、结构和代谢，以及发生的地球化学过程。这个多学科项目涉及微生物生态学（Lazar博士，PI，生物科学，UQAM），环境化学（Ponsin博士，共同PI，地球与大气科学，UQAM）和环境人类学（Jaclin博士，共同PI，社会科学学院，渥太华大学）领域。该项目将由K. Brown （PTO Exploration）领导的专业潜水员团队合作支持。事实上，由于这些地点完全被水淹没，潜水将在非常困难的条件下进行，在深度需要混合气体混合物和几次减压停止。这个研究项目将使我们能够发现适应极端条件的新生命形式，它们在被人类破坏的栖息地中进化而来。这将使我们理解，即使在人类破坏了自然环境之后，生命是如何接管并殖民一个被遗弃的栖息地的。这项研究将集中在古代铁（加蒂诺，魁北克）和云母（坎特利，魁北克）矿山收集的样本。我们将使用分子分析方法（基因组学和宏基因组学）、微生物培养、地球化学（重金属、有机和无机碳、阴离子和阳离子）和同位素分析来开展这个项目。整合多个研究领域（），这个多学科项目将为参与研究的学生带来高质量的培训，得益于使用最先进的方法，以及学习团队合作。这将允许hqp在劳动力市场的不同部门（学术界、政府机构、工业、环境公司）找到工作。该项目将与人类学研究相联系，使我们能够追溯矿石的历史，并了解人类地下生态系统殖民化的影响。

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.