Project description
Light-harvesting bacteria impact freshwater carbon cycle
Additional nutrients from human sources are disrupting the balance of freshwater ecosystems, causing eutrophication and disrupting the carbon cycle. Specialist bacteria, aerobic anoxygenic phototrophs (AAP), unexpectedly profit from this process. They are a key part of the microbial loop feeding on carbon-rich organic matter during phytoplankton blooms and transferring energy up the food chain. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the Photo-TROPHICATION project explores how eutrophication alters carbon cycling by AAP bacteria using state-of-the-art methodology, including infrared microscopy, long-term metagenomic time series and NanoSIMS. The objective is to establish how the AAP bacteria deal with nutrient stress and use that knowledge to offer improved management for restoration of freshwater ecosystems.
Objective
Anthropogenic disturbances in aquatic environments are causing carbon cycle imbalance and eutrophication. Bacteria perform crucial roles in the seasonal succession of aquatic communities and play a key role in the transfer of dissolved organic carbon to the upper trophic levels through the microbial loop. Aerobic anoxygenic phototrophic (AAP) bacteria harvest energy from light through bacteriochlorophyll reaction centers to supply their heterotrophic metabolism. AAP bacteria undergo large seasonal oscillations in abundance and community composition and are linked to phytoplankton bloom in freshwaters, reaching up to 20-30% of total bacterial community during their peaks. AAP use dissolved organic matter released by phytoplankton bloom, and since they have larger size and are under higher grazing pressure, critically participate in the microbial loop. AAP community is driven by the availability of carbon and phosphorus, elements that condition the lake’s trophic status. The aim of this project is to study how eutrophication is changing the fluxes of carbon that AAP bacteria drive in the environment through respiration and carbon assimilation. Environmental dark and infrared (IR) microbial respiration measurements will decipher the impact that photoheterotrophy has on microbial respiration in different trophic status lakes. Additionally, a novel combination of IR-epifluorescence microscopy with NanoSIMS analysis is proposed to quantify the phytoplankton derived carbon assimilation rates by AAP bacteria in different trophic status lakes. Finally, a unique monthly, 12-years long metagenomic and environmental survey from 4 different trophic status lakes (oligotrophic to eutrophic) will decipher the how the eutrophication is changing the AAP community composition and their genetic repertoire, aiding in the adequate management and restoration of eutrophic environments by providing information about the microbial community changes driven by eutrophication.
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology bacteriology
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2024-PF-01
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12489 Berlin
Germany
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