EAGER-NEON: Earthworm Diversity at Multiple Scales: What can Genetics Tell us about the Distribution of these Important Soil Organisms?

EAGER-NEON：多尺度的蚯蚓多样性：遗传学可以告诉我们有关这些重要土壤生物分布的什么信息？

基本信息

批准号：
1550795
负责人：
Katalin Szlavecz
金额：
$ 28.62万
依托单位：
Johns Hopkins University
依托单位国家：
美国
项目类别：
Standard Grant
财政年份：
2016
资助国家：
美国
起止时间：
2016-01-01 至 2018-12-31
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1550795&HistoricalAwards=false
关键词：
EAGER NEON Earthworm Diversity Multiple

项目摘要

The proposed research will develop and apply methods (DNA metabarcoding) to examine and compare measures of earthworm diversity on a continental scale. These comparative studies of earthworm diversity provide a unique opportunity to evaluate several major environmental issues, such as soil ecosystem services and the existence and consequences of biodiversity loss and species invasion. About one fourth of all known species on Earth resides in the soil, but most of this biodiversity is hidden due to the amount of labor needed to sample, extract and identify soil organisms. DNA metabarcoding is a technique that targets extracellular DNA, that is DNA from lysed or degraded cells in the soil. Thus, it provides the opportunity to identify species that are not physically present in the soil at the time of sampling. The continental scale coverage of NEON data and archived soil samples provides a unique opportunity to examine patterns of earthworm species richness at different spatial scales.The first phase of the study will establish protocols tailored to soil samples collected and archived by NEON. Soils and earthworms collected at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) will be used for this phase. The main goal is to establish the minimum amount of soil needed for sequencing. The PIs will also sample soil within three different SERC habitats representing three distinct earthworm communities. Different species are active at different times of the year, thus they will conduct sampling both in spring and summer 2016. They plan to take composite samples mimicking the sampling that is currently used by the NEON network. In the next stage DNA from soil samples from the NEON archive will be extracted and sequenced. The species diversity data will then be correlated with environmental data, also collected by NEON. The environmental data includes: local climatic conditions, the amount and quality of leaf litter, and soil properties, particularly pH, organic matter content and texture. If available, data on soil microbe diversity will also be used as metadata to evaluate and interpret species richness patterns for earthworms. The PIs will publish papers focusing on the new methods, and on the results of the genetic analyses of earthworm biological diversity. Species new to science and/or significant new records will also be described in separate papers.

拟议的研究将开发和应用方法（DNA 元条形码）来检查和比较大陆范围内的蚯蚓多样性措施。这些蚯蚓多样性的比较研究为评估几个主要环境问题提供了独特的机会，例如土壤生态系统服务以及生物多样性丧失和物种入侵的存在和后果。地球上所有已知物种中约有四分之一存在于土壤中，但由于采样、提取和识别土壤生物需要大量劳动力，大部分生物多样性都被隐藏起来。 DNA 元条形码是一种针对细胞外 DNA 的技术，即来自土壤中裂解或降解细胞的 DNA。因此，它提供了识别采样时土壤中实际不存在的物种的机会。 NEON 数据和存档土壤样本的大陆尺度覆盖范围为研究不同空间尺度上的蚯蚓物种丰富度模式提供了独特的机会。该研究的第一阶段将建立针对 NEON 收集和存档的土壤样本的协议。这一阶段将使用史密森环境研究中心 (SERC) 收集的土壤和蚯蚓。主要目标是确定测序所需的最小土壤量。 PI 还将对代表三个不同蚯蚓群落的三个不同 SERC 栖息地内的土壤进行采样。不同的物种在一年中的不同时间活跃，因此他们将在 2016 年春季和夏季进行采样。他们计划模仿 NEON 网络当前使用的采样来采集复合样本。在下一阶段，将从 NEON 档案的土壤样本中提取 DNA 并进行测序。然后，物种多样性数据将与同样由 NEON 收集的环境数据相关联。环境数据包括：当地气候条件、落叶层的数量和质量以及土壤特性，特别是 pH 值、有机质含量和质地。如果有的话，土壤微生物多样性数据也将用作元数据来评估和解释蚯蚓的物种丰富度模式。 PI 将发表论文，重点介绍新方法以及蚯蚓生物多样性遗传分析的结果。科学上的新物种和/或重要的新记录也将在单独的论文中描述。