Microbial Biodiversity of the Hawaiian Anchialine Ecosystem

夏威夷近海生态系统的微生物生物多样性近海环境是沿海内陆微咸水体，由于它们同时与海洋和地下含水层相连，因此表现出潮汐波动。由于人为压力，这种生态系统类型往往是区域特有生物的家园，日益濒临灭绝。在夏威夷群岛尤其如此，那里拥有美国唯一的天然海洋环境，但其中90%已经消失或退化。因此，记录夏威夷近岸生态系统中生物多样性的机会正在迅速减少。虽然微生物对这一生态系统的功能至关重要，但迄今为止，它们的特征很差。为了纠正这一点，该项目将利用高通量DNA测序和环境数据，以确定影响夏威夷的海洋微生物群落组成的因素，在空间和时间，以及量化扰动如何改变社区结构和功能。此外，夏威夷Anchialine微生物（HAM）储存库将被建立，以保持访问这些微生物群落，因为它们可能包含基础研究和/或应用科学价值的分类群。总的来说，这个项目将扩大夏威夷研究最少和可能最濒危的生态系统之一的基本生物学知识。此外，来自代表性不足群体的本科生和研究生将在工作期间接受培训和指导。联邦和夏威夷州政府机构也已确定拟议工作所需的信息，这些信息对夏威夷群岛今后实施近海环境管理战略具有重要价值。最后，夏威夷近海环境及其生物群将被用作教育K-12学生，教师和一般公众在夏威夷和亚拉巴马的一系列科学主题的工具

Microbial Biodiversity of the Hawaiian Anchialine EcosystemAnchialine environments are coastal land-locked bodies of brackish water exhibiting tidal fluctuations due to their simultaneous subterranean connections to the ocean and groundwater aquifers. Home to often regionally endemic organisms, this ecosystem type is increasingly becoming endangered due to anthropogenic pressures. This is especially true in the Hawaiian Islands, which has the only natural anchialine environments in the US but where 90% have already been lost or degraded. Thus, the opportunity to document the biodiversity contained within Hawaii's anchialine ecosystem is rapidly dwindling. While microbes are essential to the function of this ecosystem, they have so far been poorly characterized. To rectify this, this project will utilize high-throughput DNA sequencing and environmental data to identify factors influencing Hawaii's anchialine microbial community composition across space and time as well as quantify how perturbation alters community structure and function. Furthermore, a Hawaiian Anchialine Microbial (HAM) repository will be established to maintain access to these microbial communities given their potential for containing taxa of basic research and/or applied scientific value.Overall, this project will broaden the basic biological knowledge for one of Hawaii's least studied and potentially most endangered ecosystems. Additionally, undergraduates and a graduate student from underrepresented groups will be trained and mentored over the work's duration. Federal and State of Hawaii governmental agencies have also identified information to be developed by the proposed work as having significant value in the future implementation of anchialine environment management strategies in the Hawaiian Islands. Lastly, Hawaiian anchialine environments and their biota will be utilized as a tool for educating K-12 students, teachers, and the general public in Hawaii and Alabama on a range of scientific topics