Award: OCE-1436003

OVERVIEW: The Katz laboratory at Smith College, a women?s college that focuses on undergraduate education, worked collaboratively with the McManus laboratory at University of Connecticut to characterize the biodiversity of microbes off the coast of New England. The work here moved this research from gene by gene studies (e.g. PCR, DGGE) to more modern high-throughput technologies (e.g. amplicons, transcriptomes, metatranscriptomes. This required the refinement of both molecular and bioinformatic methods, and enabled several publications on this topic. Overall, the support of this proposal allowed PI Katz and her team to study microbial diversity, including ciliates, in marine environments while supporting the training of a postdoctoral fellow, numerous undergraduates, and a high school student. Details of achievements on various tasks are described below. 1) Characterizing the diversity of protists in nearshore environments including both open oceans and tidepools We have combined field work, molecular approaches and bioinformatics to study the biodiversity of ciliates and other eukaryotic microbes in marine environments. This work has led to numerous discoveries including: 1) the presence of distinct assemblages of ciliates with complex spatial patterns off the New England coast; 2) higher than expected diversity of both active and quiescent ciliates at depths well-below the photic zone (i.e. where sunlight penetrates); 3) novel lineages of ciliates that are able to withstand the extreme environmental changes experienced in tide pools (e.g. changing salinity and temperature during high tide); and 4) a surprising response of very small community members (i.e. nano-plankton), and minimal response of larger (micro-sized) plankton to changing prey and predator concentrations. With the exception of the last, all of these insights have been published and many with undergraduate co-authors. 2) Providing insights into the function of microbial communities in laboratory experiments Combining molecular and bioinformatic (i.e. computer-based) approaches, we also assessed functional changes in microbial communities in response to changing prey and predator concentrations. We set up small experimental systems (i.e. microcosms) at the University of Connecticut marine station in Avery Point Connecticut and then manipulated predator and prey densities. We then measured the impact on the resulting microbial eukaryotic community and found a surprisingly large decrease in the function of very small community members and only a limited impact on the larger community members. 3) Outreach to broader community through exportable Smith College course: Using the methods developed here, particularly molecular approaches for characterizing communities of ciliates and their relatives (i.e. amplicon sequencing), we have created a module used in Smith College?s microbial diversity course and exportable to others. Now in its second year of implementation, this effort has allowed students to study the microbial community within marine tanks and has found a substantial difference between animal-associated (e.g. on crabs, mussels, sea stars) microbiome compared to the microbiome in the water column and the biofilms on the sides of the tanks. 4) Disseminating data and results All of the data generated in the projects here have been made available on relevant databases including GenBank and Dryad. Computer programs written for this grant have been made available on a website (Katzlab github), and have been written in Python with documentation that will allow users to modify as needed for their goals. Over 30 presentations were made by the PI and participants during the grant, including some by undergraduate senior authors. 5) Education and professional development: Considerable effort has also gone into education and professional development of participants. This has included the training of a postdoctoral fellows, over 15 undergraduates, and one high school student. Given PI Katz?s commitment to enhancing access, roughly half of the undergraduates are students of color and/or first generation college students. The work has also contributed to lectures and course material offered in several classes at Smith College. The postdoctoral fellow trained by this grant is now a Research Assistant Professor at Temple University, and is currently on a research cruise in Antartica where he is expanding from the training he received through this grant. Finally, PIs Katz and McManus are continuing their ~20 year collaboration with the aim of collaboratively training additional students. Last Modified: 05/14/2019 Submitted by: Laura A Katz