Microbial ecology at cabled seafloor observatories

维多利亚大学运营的金星和海王星电缆观测站为海洋生物如何应对环境变化的时间序列研究提供了前所未有的机会。我的研究项目将率先利用这些观测站来研究海洋微生物的生态学。一系列的研究项目将为直接和间接研究对生态系统功能很重要的微生物过程开发一个方法和方法协议的观察站工具箱。我们将研究环境因素如何影响微生物控制氮的生物利用度，为热液喷口生物生产食物和分解沉积物中的有机碎屑的方式。直接研究将量化与环境变量相关的微生物存量变化、群落结构和代谢过程。间接研究将集中在生物扰动动力学上，这是一个影响微生物生长和代谢的关键物理变量。两个项目将在位于Juan de Fuca Ridge的主要奋进号热液喷口的海王星观测站进行。远程激活水采样器将收集喷口流体样本，用于研究海底以下地下环境中与流体化学有关的微生物反硝化作用。第二个热液项目将使用遥控摄像机研究宏观微生物席生长动态与流体排放和动物放牧活动的关系。在巴克利峡谷的NEPTUNE站点，在大陆边缘，照相机和微剖面传感器将被用来研究大型动物对地表沉积物的生物扰动与季节性栖息地变量的关系。在沿海的Saanich Inlet，在VENUS天文台未来的水柱分析器仪器包的位置，我们将研究光区的微生物硝化作用，强调先前观察到的硝化作用两个连续步骤（铵态氧化和亚硝酸盐氧化）的不平衡及其与潮汐混合的关系。这项工作还将为2012年安装在VENUS剖面仪上的自动微生物基因分析仪的实验做准备。

The VENUS and NEPTUNE cabled observatories operated by the University of Victoria offer unprecedented opportunities for the time series study of how marine organisms respond to changes in their environment. My research program will pioneer the use of these observatories to study the ecology of marine microorganisms. A series of research projects will develop an observatory toolbox of approaches and methodological protocols for the direct and indirect study of microbial processes that are important to ecosystem function. We will study how environmental factors influence the way in which microbes control the bioavailability of nitrogen, produce food for hydrothermal vent organisms and decompose organic debris in sediments. Direct studies will quantify microbial standing stock variations, community structure and metabolic processes, in relation to environmental variables. Indirect studies will focus on the dynamics of bioturbation, a key physical variable that influences microbial growth and metabolism. Two projects will be undertaken at the NEPTUNE observatory site in the Main Endeavour hydrothermal vent field on the Juan de Fuca Ridge. A remotely-activated water sampler will collect vent fluid samples for a study of microbial denitrification in the subsurface environment below the seafloor, in relation to fluid chemistry. The second hydrothermal project will use remote-controlled cameras to study the dynamics of macroscopic microbial mat growth in relation to fluid discharge and faunal grazing activity. At the NEPTUNE site in Barkley Canyon, on the continental margin, cameras and micro-profiling sensors will be used to investigate the relationship of bioturbation of surface sediments by the macrofauna, to seasonal habitat variables. In coastal Saanich Inlet, at the site of the VENUS observatory's future water column profiler instrument package, we will study microbial nitrification in the photic zone, emphasizing a previously observed imbalance in the two successive steps in nitrification (ammonium oxidation and nitrite oxidation) and its relationship to tidal mixing. This work will also serve to prepare experiments for an automated microbial gene analyzer to be installed on the VENUS profiler in 2012.