Descripción del proyecto
Estudiar la diversidad química en la materia orgánica disuelta
La materia orgánica disuelta (MOD o DOM, por sus siglas en inglés) es fundamental para los ecosistemas de agua dulce y la vida humana, pero todavía no se comprende bien. Una investigación tecnológica reciente ha desvelado que el agua de los lagos contiene miles de moléculas diferentes de origen y composición diversos, cuyo papel sigue siendo un misterio. El proyecto sEEIngDOM, financiado con fondos europeos, se esforzará por desvelar la importancia de la diversidad de las moléculas (diversidad química) en la MOD para el buen funcionamiento de los lagos y la salud humana. El proyecto combinará técnicas innovadoras de química analítica, genómica y modelización estadística con estudios minuciosos de laboratorio, experimentos de campo probados y encuestas observacionales a gran escala a fin de dilucidar cómo diferentes microbios generan variación en la diversidad de química entre lagos y cómo se adaptan y evolucionan de forma recíproca en distintas MOD.
Objetivo
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.
Ámbito científico
- 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
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitución de acogida
26129 Oldenburg
Alemania