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Award Abstract # 0929167
Collaborative Research: Function, activity, and adaptation of microbial communities in geochemically diverse subseafloor habitats

NSF Org: OCE
Division Of Ocean Sciences
Recipient: THE MARINE BIOLOGICAL LABORATORY
Initial Amendment Date: September 11, 2009
Latest Amendment Date: September 11, 2009
Award Number: 0929167
Award Instrument: Standard Grant
Program Manager: David Garrison
OCE
 Division Of Ocean Sciences
GEO
 Directorate for Geosciences
Start Date: September 15, 2009
End Date: August 31, 2013 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $470,582.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $470,582.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2009 = $470,582.00
History of Investigator:
  • Julie Huber (Principal Investigator)
    jhuber@whoi.edu
  • Allison Beauregard Schwartz (Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: Marine Biological Laboratory
7 M B L ST
WOODS HOLE
MA  US  02543-1015
(508)289-7243
Sponsor Congressional District: 09
Primary Place of Performance: Marine Biological Laboratory
7 M B L ST
WOODS HOLE
MA  US  02543-1015
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:
09
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): M2XKLRTA9G44
Parent UEI: M2XKLRTA9G44
NSF Program(s): BIOLOGICAL OCEANOGRAPHY
Primary Program Source: 01000910DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 1319, 4444, 9117, 9169, EGCH
Program Element Code(s): 165000
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.050

ABSTRACT

The integration of both laboratory and field-based chemical and microbiological measurements into a quantitative predictive framework is crucial to understanding the microbial ecology of marine systems. This project work will provide a quantitative assessment of the functional diversity, activity, and physiological adaptation of microbial communities in geochemically diverse subseafloor habitats. Results will guide development of models for linking biogeochemical processes with particular microbial communities at deep-sea hydrothermal vents, with implications for other marine habitats as well. The focus of the effort is at Axial Seamount, a well-studied, active, deep-sea hydrothermal seamount in the NE Pacific Ocean. Samples already collected from Axial, along with a field program in Year 2, will serve as the foundation for the three objectives, which are to:
1. Determine and quantify the functional diversity and activity (expression) of key subseafloor microbial lineages at Axial Seamount.
2. Determine physiological adaptations to the subseafloor habitat by quantifying the growth response of Axial Seamount isolates to in-situ geochemical parameters.
3. Develop a quantitative predictive framework for linking particular types of geochemical vent conditions with specific microbial functional groups and activities at Axial Seamount.

Specific outcomes of this project include the creation of a comprehensive quantitative microbiological and chemical dataset on diffuse and adjacent high-temperature vents within Axial Seamount. This database will include chemical measurements (gases, nutrients, metals, isotopes, and calculated Gibbs free energies) relevant to microbial metabolic processes that can be compared to microbiological data (abundance and activity of microbial lineages and functional genes, growth rates of subseafloor isolates at relevant environmental conditions) using statistical analysis to identify how specific microbial activity is linked to the geochemical environment. This project builds on previous studies of microbial population structure and geochemical measurements at Axial Seamount and addresses critical gaps in current knowledge and understanding that are impeding progress of modeling hydrothermal systems. Results will increase understanding of deep-sea hydrothermal ecosystems as well as provide new insights into controls on the distribution and activity of marine microbial communities throughout the world's oceans.

Broader Impacts: This project is interdisciplinary in nature, at the interface of microbial ecology and deep-sea oceanography with direct links to international and national research and educational organizations. Methods development and results from this work will complement current subseafloor investigations at ridge flanks and active hydrothermal systems, including the NSF-Microbial Observatory on the Juan de Fuca Ridge in the North Pacific and the upcoming Integrated Ocean Drilling Program's North Pond expedition in the North Atlantic, as well as integrate with the newly developed NSF Research Coordination Network focused on the deep biosphere.

Undergraduate and graduate students will be involved in curriculum development and laboratory and field research, allowing for one-on-one mentoring opportunities at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) and Northwest Florida State College (NWF). In addition, the project includes a unique education and outreach effort that links MBL, a research institution, with NWF, a community college, in order to impact a group traditionally far removed from research science. During the three-year project, four community college students from NWF will actively participate in a research program at MBL through an internship opportunity. In addition, a classroom module incorporating real scientific data from this research program will be developed to greatly expand the number of community college students impacted by the work. Through the partnership, real cutting-edge science will be accessible to NWF students. Dissemination of the developed module to other community college instructors will facilitate an even broader impact, and this novel education and outreach effort will serve as a model to promote other researcher-community college teacher partnership programs.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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Akerman, N.H, Butterfield, D.A, and J.A. Huber "Phylogenetic diversity and functional gene patterns of sulfur-oxidizing subseafloor Epsilonproteobacteria in diffuse hydrothermal vent fluids." Frontiers in Microbiology , v.4 , 2013 , p.185
Chadwick, W.W., Butterfield, D.A., Embley, R.W., Tunnicliffe, V., Huber, J.A., Nooner, S., and D. Clague "Spotlight: Axial Seamount" Oceanography , v.23 , 2010 , p.38
Helene C. Ver Eecke, David A. Butterfield, Julie A. Huber, Marvin D. Lilley, Eric J. Olson, Kevin K. Roe, Leigh J. Evans, Alexandr Y. Merkel, Holly V. Cantin, and James F. Holden "Hydrogen-limited growth of hyperthermophilic methanogens at deep-sea hydrothermal vents" Proceeding of National Academy of Sciences , v.109 , 2012 , p.13674 10.1073/pnas.1206632109
Merkel, A., Huber, J.A., Chernyh, N., Bonch-Osmolovskaya, E. and A. Lebedinsky "Detection of putatively thermophilic anaerobic methanotrophs (ANMEs) in diffuse hydrothermal vent fluids" Applied and Environmental Microbiology , v.79 , 2013 , p.915
Meyer, J.L., Akerman, N.H., Proskurowski, G. and J.A. Huber "Microbiological characterization of post-eruption ?snowblower? vents at Axial Seamount, Juan de Fuca Ridge" Frontiers in Microbiology , v.4 , 2013 , p.153
Ver Eecke H.C., Akerman, N.H., Huber, J.A., Butterfield, D.A., and J.F. Holden "Growth kinetics and energetics of a deep-sea hyperthermophilic methanogen under varying environmental conditions." Environmental Microbiology Reports , v.5 , 2013 , p.665

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