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SFB 1076:  AquaDiva: Understanding the Links between Surface and Subsurface Biogeosphere

Subject Area Geosciences
Agriculture, Forestry and Veterinary Medicine
Biology
Chemistry
Computer Science, Systems and Electrical Engineering
Medicine
Term since 2013
Website Homepage
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 218627073
 
The Critical Zone (CZ) is the Earth's porous skin where air, water, and rock intersect and interact with life. It is critical because this is the zone where humans live, and we depend on its resources, from clean water to food production and climate regulation. The CZ extends downward from the vegetation through soil to the subsurface, including deep soil, weathered rock, and groundwater, hundreds of meters deep. Although these different compartments are connected by fluid flow and matter transport, they are mostly studied separately. Pollution, land-use, and climate change increasingly impact and alter CZ's surface compartments, but we do not understand the consequences for the subsurface. The principle aim of the CRC AquaDiva is to increase our understanding of how water (Aqua) links surface and subsurface and how local geology and surface conditions set subsurface functional diversity (Diva) and ecology. In the first funding period, we established the Hainich Critical Zone Exploratory (CZE), which encompasses two main aquifer assemblages along a ~6 km hillslope transect in alternating limestone–mudstone rock. The CRC projects characterized distinct surface and groundwater properties, from geochemical and isotope measurements to a suite of 'omics' tools to catalog subsurface life, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, viruses, and groundwater fauna. Genomic information was linked to active proteins (proteome), products (metabolome, gases), and targeted investigations of the chemistry of colloids and dissolved organic matter (DOM). Together, these very different analyses identified six distinct groundwater zones. During the second funding period, our main research targeted understanding how these zones developed and are sustained, applying isotopic tools and developing models to better link the cycling of carbon and nitrogen to microbial community and environment. In addition, we established the Saale-Elster-Sandsteinplatte Observatory (SESO) in acidic sandstone rock with similar surface land cover as a contrasting geological site, and made initial observations. With the third funding period of the CRC AquaDiva, we propose to expand observations at SESO and synthesize the vast amount of information from the Hainich CZE to (1) produce a suite of biotic and chemical "fingerprints" specific to surface properties or biotic processes that indicate how signals are transported and transformed as they transit the unsaturated zone ('aeration zone') into aquifers and (2) investigate how temporal variations in surface inputs alter the subsurface and how this feeds back to influence surface conditions. We will use models and comparison of the contrasting geologic settings to generalize our concepts and to develop predictions about the response of subsurface life to climate change scenarios and the consequences for water resources. Finally, we will secure the massive infrastructure investments and data sets as platforms for international CZ research.In the first phase, a suite of biotic and chemical “fingerprints” specific to surface properties or biotic processes were developed to indicate how signals are transported and transformed as they transit the unsaturated zone into aquifers. We investigated the role of temporal variations and extremes in surface inputs of water and matter impacting the subsurface. Important and surprising results demonstrate dramatic spatial differences in how surface and subsurface are coupled. Based on results of hydrochemistry and omics technologies, we identified several distinct biogeochemical zones that reflect differences in geology, structure, fluid flow, and land-use in their respective recharge areas. In the second phase of the CRC AquaDiva, we will move from characterization of differences to explaining how they evolve. Our plan to link observations to biogeochemical fluxes provides the chance to understand the ecology of the subsurface, especially how subsurface biota in turn shape their environment and CZ services like water quality. The Hainich CZE provides field training sites for our doctoral researchers and students and is part of an international network of Critical Zone Observatories. Our field infrastructure is already attracting national and international collaborators. We are thus well on our way to our long-term vision of being the premier international subsurface biodiversity platform.
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Applicant Institution Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena
 
 

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