Descrizione del progetto
Esaminare la chemiodiversità della sostanza organica disciolta
La sostanza organica disciolta (DOM) è essenziale per gli ecosistemi d’acqua dolce e per la vita umana, ma è ancora poco conosciuta. Recenti ricerche tecnologiche hanno rivelato che l’acqua dei laghi contiene migliaia di molecole diverse, di varia origine e composizione, il cui ruolo rimane un mistero. Il progetto sEEIngDOM, finanziato dall’UE, si occuperà di svelare l’importanza della diversità delle molecole (chemiodiversità) presenti nella sostanza organica disciolta per il funzionamento dei laghi e la salute umana. Il progetto combinerà tecniche innovative di chimica analitica, genomica e modellazione statistica con accurati studi di laboratorio, collaudati esperimenti sul campo e indagini osservative su larga scala per chiarire come i diversi microbi guidino la variazione della chemiodiversità nei laghi e come si adattino ed evolvano reciprocamente nelle diverse composizioni di DOM.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
- 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
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
ERC-STG - Starting GrantIstituzione ospitante
26129 Oldenburg
Germania