Prokaryotic Diversity of a Salt Marsh/Estuarine Complex at the University of Georgia Marine Institute, Sapleo Island

正在建立一个微生物观测站，以研究沿海海洋细菌的多样性和生态作用。该项目的研究地点是萨佩洛岛，这是乔治亚州海岸外的一个堰洲岛，拥有美国最广阔、最原始的盐沼。原核生物在这些沼泽中发挥着关键的生态作用，它们进行盐沼草的分解，作为广泛的微生物食物网的基础，并推动碳、氮、硫和其他主要和次要元素的循环。尽管有这些重要的作用，但目前对沿海海洋原核生物的身份和多样性知之甚少。该研究将采用基于培养的方法（即依赖于在实验室中培养细菌菌落的方法）和不依赖于培养的方法（即依赖于直接从环境中提取细菌DNA的方法），对沼泽和邻近河口的水域和沉积物中的细菌进行全面的清查。选择在沼泽生态系统中发挥重要生态作用并适合实验室培养的原核生物将作为详细生理和遗传研究的重点。这些研究将开发工具，将特定的原核生物群与它们所执行的生物地球化学功能联系起来。了解原核生物的多样性及其功能作用对于应对未来几十年的环境挑战至关重要。沿海沼泽和河口是与这一努力特别相关的环境，因为它们位于陆地和海洋生态系统的交界处，而且它们承受着来自人类活动的越来越大的压力。

A microbial observatory is being established to study the diversity and ecological roles of coastal marine bacteria. The project study site is Sapelo Island, a barrier island off the coast of Georgia that supports some of the most extensive and pristine salt marshes in the United States. Prokaryotes play critical ecological roles in these marshes, carrying out decomposition of the salt marsh grasses, serving as the basis for an extensive microbial food web, and driving the cycling of carbon, nitrogen, sulfur, and other major and minor elements. Despite these important roles, relatively little is currently known about the identity and diversity of coastal marine prokaryotes. The study will undertake a comprehensive inventory of bacteria in the waters and sediments of the marshes and adjacent estuaries, using both culture-based approaches (i.e., methods that rely on growing bacterial colonies in the laboratory) and culture-independent approaches (i.e., methods that rely on retrieving bacterial DNA directly from the environment). Selected prokaryotes that play important ecological roles in the marsh ecosystem and are amenable to culturing in the laboratory will serve as the focus for detailed physiological and genetic studies. These studies will develop tools to link specific prokaryotic groups with the biogeochemical functions they perform. Understanding the diversity of prokaryotes and their functional roles will be important for meeting environmental challenges in the coming decades. Coastal marshes and estuaries are particularly relevant environments in this effort because of their location at the interface of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and the growing pressures they experience from human activities.