RAPID: Initial Colonists of Freshly Emplaced Volcanic Rocks at High Latitude: A Case Study of the 2021 Volcanic Eruption on the Reykjanes Peninsula, Iceland

RAPID：高纬度新安置火山岩的最初殖民者：以 2021 年冰岛雷克雅内斯半岛火山喷发为例

• 批准号: 2128606
• 负责人: Solange Duhamel
• 金额: $ 4.59万
• 依托单位: University of Arizona
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-04-15 至 2022-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2128606&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Initial; Colonists; Freshly; Emplaced

An essential task in geomicrobiology is to understand how newly formed substrates become colonized by microbial communities, which may ultimately play a role in rock weathering, soil formation and ecosystem development. Volcanic eruptions offer numerous opportunities to increase our understanding of terrestrial ecosystem formation. However, very few teams have been able to collect samples and data at early stages of volcanic substrate formation. Most studies have started their samplings years, often decades to hundreds of years after the eruption (i.e., well after the establishment of microbial communities), and only one study was able to gather data three months after the eruption. Therefore, very little is known about the initial colonists of freshly deposited volcanic rocks, particularly at high latitudes. On March 19th 2021, the new volcanic eruption near Mount Fagradalsfjall, on the Reykjanes Peninsula in Southwest Iceland, began extruding a fresh lava flow. Studying the initial colonists of the freshly deposited volcanic rock from the onset of its formation represents a unique opportunity to answer many questions about the microbial succession and community establishment of new ecosystems. This project will acquire samples and data for microbial, geochemical and physicochemical characterization of the new ecosystem formation. Considering this rare chance for an immediate sampling of a fresh lava flow, this work has the potential to transform our understanding of microbial community succession from a sterile environment to an established and resilient community. This project will also train one graduate student in field sampling and laboratory analyses. Results from this effort will be made publicly available shortly after sample and data collection. The graduate student and the investigator will give public lectures about the work. They will also coordinate with the U.S. Embassy in Iceland and Fulbright – Iceland Commission to promote the RAPID response by U.S. researchers in Iceland.The project seeks to answer fundamental questions about the initial colonists of freshly deposited volcanic rocks: 1-What is the taxonomic diversity of the earliest colonists of volcanic rocks and how does it change over time? 2-What are the potential sources of colonizers? 3-What are the metabolic capabilities of these early colonists? Being in Iceland before, during and at least 5 months after the start of the Fagradalsfjall volcanic eruption, affords the investigator a rare opportunity to collect pre-, and post-eruption samples and data to answer these questions. Two hypotheses will be tested: (H1) early colonizers of the volcanic rock will be present in low abundance, low taxonomic diversity and rely on photo- and/or chemolithotrophic metabolism and (H2) the volcanic rock will harbor an increasingly complex microbial community in terms of diversity and function over time, including organoheterophs and photoautotrophs, after only a few months. The project will acquire samples and data for microbial, geochemical and physicochemical characterization of the new ecosystem formation. The new discoveries resulting from this study would set the stage for further research that will analyze the samples with sequencing and geochemical approaches and extend the study over a longer period (years). The research will provide urgently needed evidence to examine how newly formed volcanic substrates become colonized by microbial communities, looking specifically at the taxonomic identity and functional capabilities of early colonists but also at their external sources. To examine the origin of early colonists they will also collect samples from water, rock, soil and bioaerosols as part of the RAPID response. In the follow up study, they will use next-generation sequencing-based microbial source tracking to estimate the source of microbes found to occupy the newly formed lava flows. The research products will be of interest to a number of other fields outside the immediate field, specifically fields seeking a mechanistic understanding of interactions between microbial populations and their environment, and the emergent properties of the complex community. The new culture isolates will also provide information on the roles of early colonizers in elemental cycles, geobiology, and biochemistry. This project will support the travel of a graduate student to perform field work in Iceland and to process samples for return to his Institution. Results from this work will be a key focus of his Ph.D. research. Results from this effort will be disseminated through publications, public databases, and public lectures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

地球微生物学的一项重要任务是了解新形成的基质如何被微生物群落定植，这最终可能在岩石风化、土壤形成和生态系统发展中发挥作用。火山喷发为我们增加对陆地生态系统形成的了解提供了许多机会。很少有团队能够在火山基质形成的早期阶段收集样本和数据，大多数研究都是在火山喷发后数十年至数百年（即火山爆发后很久）开始采样。微生物群落的建立），并且只有一项研究能够收集火山喷发三个月后的数据，因此，人们对新沉积的火山岩的最初殖民者知之甚少，特别是在 2021 年 3 月 19 日的高纬度地区。冰岛西南部雷克雅内斯半岛法格拉达尔山附近的火山喷发开始喷出新鲜的熔岩流，研究新沉积的最初的殖民者。考虑到这一罕见的生态系统的形成，该项目将获取用于新生态系统形成的微生物、地球化学和物理化学特征的样本和数据。这项工作有可能将我们对微生物群落演替的理解从无菌环境转变为成熟且有弹性的群落，该项目还将培训一名研究生进行现场采样和实验室分析。这项工作的结果将在样本和数据收集后不久公布，研究生和研究人员还将与美国驻冰岛大使馆和富布赖特-冰岛委员会协调，以促进快速反应。该项目旨在回答有关新沉积火山岩的最初殖民者的基本问题：1-火山岩最早殖民者的分类多样性是什么以及它如何变化2- 殖民者的潜在来源是什么？ 3- 这些早期殖民者在 Fagradalsfjall 火山喷发之前、期间和之后至少 5 个月内的新陈代谢能力如何？有机会收集喷发前和喷发后的样本和数据来回答这些问题，将测试两个假设：（H1）火山岩的早期殖民者将以低丰度、低水平存在。分类多样性并依赖于光合和/或化能自养代谢，并且（H2）随着时间的推移，火山岩将拥有一个在多样性和功能方面日益复杂的微生物群落，包括有机异养生物和光合自养生物，该项目将在几个月后获得。这项研究的新发现将为进一步研究奠定基础，通过测序和分析来分析样本。该研究将提供迫切需要的证据，以研究新形成的火山基质如何被微生物群落殖民，特别关注早期殖民者的分类学身份和功能能力。为了检查早期殖民者的起源，他们还将从水、岩石、土壤和生物气溶胶中收集样本，作为 RAPID 响应的一部分，在后续研究中，他们将使用基于下一代测序的微生物。源跟踪以估计占据新形成的熔岩流的微生物的来源，这些研究产品将引起直接领域之外的许多其他领域的兴趣，特别是寻求对微生物种群与其环境之间相互作用的机械理解的领域，新的文化隔离区还将提供有关早期殖民者在元素循环、地球生物学和生物化学中的作用的信息，该项目将支持研究生前往冰岛进行实地工作。过程这项工作的结果将成为他的博士研究的重点，并将通过出版物、公共数据库和公开讲座传播。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命。通过使用基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，认为值得支持。