Projektbeschreibung
Erforschung der Chemodiversität in gelösten organischen Stoffen
Gelöste organische Stoffe sind für Süßwasser-Ökosysteme und das menschliche Leben von zentraler Bedeutung, bisher jedoch nicht ausreichend verstanden. Jüngste Ergebnisse aus der technologischen Forschung zeigen, dass in Seewasser tausende verschiedenartige Moleküle mit unterschiedlichem Ursprung und unterschiedlicher Zusammensetzung enthalten sind, deren Rolle noch immer unklar ist. Das EU-finanzierte Projekt sEEIngDOM wird darauf hinarbeiten, zu entschlüsseln, welche Bedeutung die Diversität von Molekülen (Chemodiversität) in gelösten organischen Stoffen für die Funktionsfähigkeit von Seen und die menschliche Gesundheit hat. Es wird insbesondere untersuchen, inwieweit unterschiedliche Mikroben an Variationen in der Chemodiversität von Seen beteiligt sind und wie sie sich wechselseitig an unterschiedliche gelöste organische Stoffe anpassen und darin entwickeln. Um diese Fragen zu klären, wird das Team innovative Verfahren der analytischen Chemie, Genomik und statistischen Modellierung mit gründlichen Laborstudien, bewährten Feldversuchen und umfassenden Beobachtungsstudien kombinieren.
Ziel
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is central to the functioning of freshwater ecosystems that support life on Earth. For example, DOM has a major role in global carbon (C) cycling by helping to bury four times more C in the bottom of lakes and rivers than across all of the world’s oceans. DOM also majorly influences the growth of aquatic organisms and impedes drinking water treatment for millions of people, such as by increasing microbial growth. Yet, despite its importance, DOM remains poorly understood because it has been measured with little resolution for nearly 200 years. Recent technological advances have now shown that a handful of lake water can contain thousands of different molecules of varying origin and composition. But the role of all these different molecules in aquatic ecosystems largely remains a mystery.
This project will discover the importance of the tremendous diversity of molecules – termed chemodiversity – found in DOM for lake functioning and human wellbeing. It will do so by combining cutting-edge techniques in analytical chemistry, genomics, and statistical modelling with careful lab-based studies, proven field experiments, and large-scale observational surveys. By thinking about species of molecules as we would species of organisms, this project will draw upon rich theory and methods developed for the study of biodiversity. The work will allow us to learn how variation in chemodiversity across lakes is driven by associations with different microbes and how these microbes reciprocally adapt and evolve to different DOM. In the process, we will improve predictions of how important functions and services provided by lakes, such as C cycling and drinking water, vary with chemodiversity. An exciting application of this work is to improve emerging technologies for water purification by identifying microbial consortia that can consume chemodiversity and make water clearer.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
- natural scienceschemical sciencesanalytical chemistry
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringwater treatment processesdrinking water treatment processes
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystemsfreshwater ecosystems
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental scienceshydrologylimnology
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeochemistrybiogeochemistry
Schlüsselbegriffe
Programm/Programme
Thema/Themen
Finanzierungsplan
ERC-STG - Starting GrantGastgebende Einrichtung
26129 Oldenburg
Deutschland