Arctic viral ecology in water, ice and aerosols

在过去的100年里，全球平均气温稳步上升，其中北极地区的气温上升幅度最大。这是特别令人关切的，因为它已导致该区域冰的数量和质量大大减少。这种情况的后果是巨大的，影响到从海平面和海洋环流到国际贸易和土著人民习俗的一切。预测北极气候变化影响的广度和程度的一个关键方面是阐明该地区特有的生物是如何受到影响的。与地球上的大多数生态系统一样，北极地区最丰富和最多样化的生物实体群体是构成微生物群落的原生生物、原核生物和病毒。微生物在营养物质和能量的循环中起着至关重要的作用，因此了解这一群体的动态和相互作用对于了解整个北极生态系统的生态学至关重要。这些病毒是北极生态系统的一个重要组成部分，但研究却非常不足。病毒影响其微生物宿主的群落动态和进化，并最终影响整个生物群的生产力。为此，我建议在从魁北克北部到加拿大北极高地的纵向梯度上的一系列流域进行研究，这些栖息地在过去的几十年里经历了巨大的冰盖损失。本研究的目的是利用分子方法表征病毒在北极微生物生态中的作用，以及这种作用在整个生物群系中的变化。这些信息将通过显著扩大已知的病毒及其宿主之间的基因组生物地理学范围，为其进化、生态学和生物学提供新的见解，同时补充该地区正在进行的工作，从而解决我们理解中的主要空白，最终形成一幅关于病毒在北极淡水环境中的相互作用、影响和重要性的生物群落整体肖像。同样重要的是，该研究项目将为早期职业科学家提供培训，同时促进科学多样性的努力，为北极社区的推广工作做出贡献，并通过出版物、会议、公共论坛和媒体教育广大公众。

The average global temperature has steadily risen over the past 100 years, with some of the greatest increases occurring in the Arctic. This is of particular concern because it has resulted in a substantial reduction in the amount and quality of ice in the region. The consequences of this are dramatic, affecting everything from sea level and oceanic circulation to international trade and the customs of aboriginal peoples. A critical aspect to predicting the breadth and magnitude of the impact of climate change in the Arctic is elucidating how the organisms endemic to this region are being affected. As in the majority of ecosystems on Earth, the most abundant and diverse groups of biological entities in the Arctic are the protists, prokaryotes and viruses that comprise the microbial community. Microbes play a critical role in the cycling of nutrients and energy, and therefore understanding the dynamics and interactions of this group is vital to understanding the ecology of the Arctic ecosystem as a whole. The viruses are an important, but remarkably understudied, component of the Arctic ecosystem. Viruses influence the community dynamics and evolution of their microbial hosts, and ultimately the productivity of the entire biota. Towards this end, I propose to work in a series of watersheds along a longitudinal gradient from northern Quebec to the Canadian High Arctic, habitats that have experienced a dramatic loss of ice cover in the past decades. The objective of this research is to characterize the role of viruses in Arctic microbial ecology and how that role varies throughout the biome using molecular methods. This information will address major gaps in our understanding by significantly expanding the known range of genomic biogeography among viruses and their hosts, providing new insights into their evolution, ecology, and biology, while complementing ongoing work in the region, ultimately resulting in a biome-wide portrait of the interactions, impact and importance of viruses in freshwater environments of the Arctic. As importantly, this research program will provide training for early career scientists while promoting efforts to increase diversity in science, contribute to outreach efforts in Arctic communities, and educate the public at large through publications, conferences, public forums and the media.