ADVANCE Fellows Award

Clemson University, Clemson SC

Investigators

Abstract

This project will examine microbial diversity and ecology on a portion of the Colorado Plateau in Utah. First, it will expand and characterize an existing culture collection, which will serve as a resource to the research community interested in bacterial taxonomy and natural products. Data obtained from the characterization of this culture collection will allow the distribution of novel microbes found in this study to be examined. Second, a survey of community complexity will be conducted using molecular techniques to obtain qualitative and quantitative data about the structure of these microbial communities. Finally, the role of these microbial communities in stabilizing the friable sandstones of the region will be investigated. Experiments measuring the strength of the microbial communities when grown in a sand and sandstone environment will provide an estimate of the mechanical strength provided by the microbial community to the sandstone. Microbes impact our environment in multiple and quite often subtle ways. These subtle impacts are seen throughout our National Parks and Monuments located on the Colorado Plateau of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico. Microbial communities found in this region live within the pore spaces of the sandstones that dominate the area (cryptoendolithic communities). These organisms exert a nearly imperceptible influence on the rate of erosion through their growth. It is this change in erosion rate that results in the various land forms found on the Colorado Plateau. Studies have been conducted to examine the microbial diversity within these communities, but these studies have focused on the photosynthetic components while this study focuses on the organisms that use carbon compounds for energy (chemoheterotrophs). Results from this project can be used for a variety of purposes, including the design of better management practices for the National Park Service, better methods to control beach erosion, and advances in natural products discovery.