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Marine Stromatolite
Studies
Biocomplexity of marine stromatolites: Biogeochemical
cycling, microbial population dynamics, and mineral formation in a
three billion year old ecosystem.
Funding: National Science Foundation (NSF),
BioComplexity Program; 2003-2008
PI: R.P. Reid;
Co-PIs: A. Decho, P. Visscher, R. Marinelli, J. Stolz
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The microbial mat communities of stromatolites offer a unique
platform from which to examine fundamental bacterial interactions.
Marine Stromatolites are finely-laminated rock structures,
consisting of horizontal layers of calcium carbonate precipitate.
They are produced through the organized activities of several groups
of bacteria, including cyanobacteria, aerobic heterotrophs, and
sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB). Stromatolites represent one of the
earth’s earliest and longest-standing ecosystems. Today, actively
growing marine stromatolites only occur in a few locations in the
world; including isolated areas of the Exuma Cays in the Bahamas.
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Our studies of marine stromatolites are funded in a five-year
project sponsored by the NSF BioComplexity Program. Our laboratory’s
role is to investigate how the EPS matrix interacts with physical
factors, chemical processes and microbial groups within biofilm
communities ultimately, to influence the organized precipitation of
calcium carbonate into the resulting stromatolite macrostructure.
Currently, we are investigating how the EPS matrix of stromatolite
biofilms influences 1) the microspatial distribution patterns of
different microbial groups; 2) the chemical communication processes
within/between bacterial groups; and 3) developing signatures
of CaCO3 precipitation using Raman-confocal and Fluorescence
lifetime imaging microscopy (FLIM). The Earth’s earliest biofilms, those of
marine stromatolites, likely utilized chemical communication in
their community interactions. This chemical communication process
has evolved to mediate both the helpful and harmful (i.e. disease)
types of bacteria interactions in humans.
This project is in collaboration
with researchers from the Universities of Miami, Connecticut,
Maryland, Duquesne, and St. Andrews (Scotland); and scientists at
the NASA-Ames Laboratory.
For further information see our ‘Research
Initiative on Bahamian Stromatolites’ (RIBS) website:
www.stromatolites.info |
