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Brian P. Hedlund |
 Sampling dissolved gases at Sandy's Spring, Nevada.  Looking into Smith Creek Hot Spring, Nevada.
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| Ecology of Great Basin Hot Springs | ||
| At temperatures above 73 degress Celcius photosynthesis cannot operate so organisms must gain energy by catalyzing oxidation-reduction reactions involving inorganic compounds, a process called chemolithotrophy. The goal of this project is to characterize chemolithotrophs that thrive in Great Boiling Springs, Nevada, and other Great Basin hot springs and determine their roles in the ecology of these environments. Great Basin hot springs appear to be different from better-studied springs in Yellowstone National Park in that some of them seem to be dominated by different chemolithoautotrophic microbes. These particular bacteria are new to science. In this study, the relevant chemistry of the hot springs will be determined and used to calculate the energy available to microorganisms. It is predicted that the reactions that yield the most energy will be most important to the microorganisms in the spring. Second, these predictions will be tested directly by measuring microbial activities in the spring and indirectly by measuring chemical changes with depth in sediment cores. Evidence of microbe-mediated chemical reactions and their locations in the spring sediment will be evident in changes in chemistry. Third, the activities that were predicted and measured will be tentatively assigned to microbial species by combining genomic DNA and RNA sequencing approaches with stable isotope chemistry. Fourth, the information will be used to drive attempts to cultivate important microorganisms in the laboratory so they can be studied in more detail. This project will allow us to better understand the foundations of life in hot springs and expand our knowledge of the diversity of life on Earth. |
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