Microbial community structure and function in Canada's changing aquatic ecosystems

微生物是生态系统中最多样化的组成部分，它们的活动通过对营养和能量循环的重要贡献来支持地球上的所有其他生命。随着气候变暖和人类活动的加剧，这些微生物的分布和活动的变化是不可避免的，但很难预测，因为我们对环境条件如何影响微生物群落的理解是有限的。北方生态系统是变化最快的生态系统之一。此外，北方的微生物群落是我们所知最少的。该研究计划旨在利用先进的基因组方法解决人类活动对北方水生生态系统中微生物生态和进化的影响。该研究计划有两个核心追求：1。研究气候变化对北冰洋微生物群落的影响。北冰洋是一个正在经历前所未有的气候驱动的环境和生物条件变化的系统。在这里，总的目标是调查北冰洋微生物的地理，代谢多样性和进化。该方法涉及利用过去15年（2004年至今）收集的微生物群落的基因组分析对微生物生物多样性模式进行大规模研究。通过将微生物群落的变化与不断变化的环境条件联系起来，我们将进一步了解气候变化如何影响北极微生物的分布和活动以及依赖于它们的生态系统。2.调查人类压力因素，如城市发展和农业对加拿大湖泊微生物的影响。加拿大有100多万个湖泊，约占地球湖泊总面积的37%，可以说加拿大是一个湖泊之国。在全球范围内，越来越多的证据表明，人类活动和气候变化正在影响湖泊生态系统。在接下来的几年里，我们将开发基因组方法来评估人类对湖泊的改变如何影响湖泊食物网中不可或缺的微生物群落。我们还将评估哪些微生物群落的基因组特征可以最有效地用作加拿大湖泊健康状况的指标。为了实现这些目标，我们正在对数百个淡水湖泊中的微生物群落进行泛加拿大宏基因组评估。这是有史以来对湖泊进行的最大规模的宏基因组调查。预计我们的研究结果将有助于科学理解所需的循证决策和改善湖泊管理在所有地区。

Microorganisms are the most diverse component of ecosystems, and their activities support all other life on the planet via essential contributions to nutrient and energy cycling. As the climate warms and human activities intensify, changes in the distributions and activities of these microbes are inevitable, yet difficult to predict since our understanding of how microbial communities are affected by environmental conditions is limited. Northern ecosystems are among those that are changing most rapidly. In addition, northern microbial communities are among those that we know the least about. The research program seeks to address the impacts of human activities on the ecology and evolution of microorganisms in northern aquatic ecosystems using advanced genomic approaches. The research program has two core pursuits: 1. To investigate climate change impacts on Arctic Ocean microbiomes. The Arctic Ocean is a system currently undergoing unprecedented climate-driven changes in environmental and biotic conditions. Here the overall objective is to investigate the biogeography, metabolic diversity, and evolution of microbes in the Arctic Ocean. The approach involves large-scale studies of microbial biodiversity patterns using genomic analyses of microbial communities collected over the past ~15 years (2004 to the present). By linking changes in the microbial community to shifting environmental conditions, we will advance our understanding of how climate change may influence the distribution and activities of Arctic microbes and the ecosystems that depend on them. 2. To investigate the influence of human stressors such as urban development and agriculture on Canada's lake microbiomes. With over 1 million lakes covering approximately 37% of Earth's total lake area, it is fair to say that Canada is a country of lakes. Globally, there is increasing evidence that human activities and climate change are affecting lake ecosystems. In the next few years, we will develop genomic approaches for assessing how the human alteration of lakes influences the microbial communities that are integral to lake food webs. We will also assess which genomic features of the microbial communities can be most effectively used as indicators for the health of Canadian lakes. To meet these objectives, we are conducting a pan-Canadian metagenomic assessment of microbial communities in hundreds of freshwater lakes. This represents the largest metagenomic survey of lakes ever performed. It is expected that our findings will contribute to the scientific understanding required for evidence-based policymaking and improving lake management in all regions.