Natural abundance compound specific isotope analysis of lipids: tracing anthropogenic impacts and responses

对环境中有机化合物的来源、循环和命运的科学调查是一系列跨学科研究问题的重要组成部分，这些问题是当前人类社会与环境相互作用研究的前沿。这些研究问题范围广泛，从i)在环境地球化学、污染物水文地质学、微生物学和生物修复领域了解微生物在控制有机污染物对人类和生态系统健康的持久性、影响和修复方面的作用；ii)了解微生物群落在全球生物地球化学循环中的基本作用及其在地质风化、生物地球化学养分循环和气候变化中的影响；iii)通过将地球化学科学方法与考古学相结合以阐明人类发展的新研究，了解人类与环境相互作用时的反应和发展。我的研究在开发化合物特定同位素分析(CSIA)的新方法方面发挥了主导作用，特别是确定了脂类的CSIA可以应用于有关人类对环境的影响的广泛问题，这些问题可能会对人类和生态系统的健康造成负面影响，并为人类对环境反应的考古记录提供独特的见解。这项提案将把CSIA类脂应用于上面列出的一系列主题，以帮助我们理解这些主题中的每一个，并因此增加对人类与环境相互作用的总体理解，以便我们能够通过了解微生物过程及其在与污染物的影响和补救以及气候变化有关的关键环境问题中的潜在基础作用，以及通过了解人类对环境变化的反应的地质考古记录来帮助我们预测我们未来的反应，从而为未来做计划。

Scientific investigations of the sources, cycling and fates of organic compounds in the environment are a crucial component of a wide range of interdisciplinary research questions that are the forefront of current research into the interactions between human society and our environment. These research questions span a wide range from: i) understanding microbial roles in controlling the persistence, impacts and remediation of organic contaminants on human and ecosystem health in the fields of environmental geochemistry, contaminant hydrogeology, microbiology and bioremediation; to ii) understanding the fundamental role played by microbial communities in global biogeochemical cycles and their influence in geological weathering, biogeochemical nutrient cycling and climate change; to iii) understanding human responses and development as they interact with their environment by new research combining scientific approaches in geochemistry with archeology to elucidate human development. My research has played a leading role in developing new approaches in Compound Specific Isotope Analysis (CSIA), and in particular has identified that CSIA of lipids can be applied to a wide range of questions concerning human impacts on our environment that may negatively effect human and ecosystem health, as well as providing unique insights into the archeological record of human responses to our environment. This proposal will apply CSIA lipids to the range of topics listed above to contribute to our understanding of each of these topics and as such adding to the overall understanding of human interactions with our environment such that we can plan for the future by understanding the microbial processes and their potential fundamental role in crucial environmental questions concerning impacts and remediation of contaminants and climate change, and by understanding the geoarcheological record of human responses to environmental change to contribute to our ability tot predict our future responses.