Collaborative Research: Controls over the Spatial Distribution and Activity of Microbial Communities in Antarctic Soils

分子生物学技术的进步扩大了我们对土壤微生物群落的了解，并提出了关于微生物多样性区域和全球模式的重要问题。拟议的研究将调查在一系列地球化学和水文土壤条件下的微生物群落的组成和活动，以及在跨南极山脉的地方到区域尺度上，以评估对微生物地理学的控制。这项研究的目标是两个地区的跨南极山脉，麦克默多干谷，和比尔德摩尔冰川地区进一步南部，后者代表了一个未充分勘探和无可争议的更极端的土壤环境。该研究项目将采用综合方法，利用分子技术和在定量生物地理学框架内对生物活性进行原位评估，目的是区分对微生物群落结构的精细控制和大规模控制。 这项研究对于确定极端微生物食物网的基本营养状态及其对气候变化的敏感性至关重要。调查人员将通过第一人称外联以及基于网络的通信和练习，与中学和中学后教育工作者接触。 两名博士后科学家将在跨学科和国际环境中接受培训。

Advances in molecular techniques have expanded our understanding of soil microbial communities, and raised important questions about regional and global patterns in microbial diversity. The proposed research will investigate the composition and activity of microbial communities across a range of geochemical and hydrologic soil conditions, and over local to regional scales in the Transantarctic Mountains, in order to assess controls over microbial biogeography. The research targets two areas in the Transantarctic mountains, the McMurdo Dry Valleys, and the Beardmore Glacier region further south, the latter representing an underexplored and inarguably more extreme soil environment. The research project will adopt an integrated approach, using molecular techniques and in situ assessment of biological activity in a quantitative biogeographical framework, with the goal of distinguishing fine versus broad scale controls over microbial community structure. The research is essential to determining the basic trophic status of extreme microbial food webs, and their sensitivity to climate change. The investigators will engage secondary and post-secondary educators through first person outreach as well as web-based communications and exercises. Two postdoctoral scientists will be trained in an interdisciplinary and international setting.