URBIFUN, the 3rd J-AIL collaborative project

How microbial biodiversity and ecosystem function change across a gradient of urbanization? 

This question will be addressed in the next 2 years by early-career scientists of the Iberian Association of Limnology. URBIFUN is the third collaborative project for and led by young limnologists.

Miriam Colls and Ferran Romero, from the Catalan Institute of Water Research (ICRA) and University of Girona, are the PIs of this competitive project funded by the Iberian Association of Limnology (AIL). URBIFUN aims to foster scientific collaboration among young limnologists and promote interdisciplinary synergies that led to new knowledge on stream ecology.

URBIFUN is looking for participants to join the project. Participate here. 

Project summary: More than half of the current global population lives in urban areas, and this figure is expected to increase in the near future. Urban areas are largely recognized as a source of stress for their surrounding water bodies, such as rivers and streams. Despite the acknowledged impact of urbanization on water bodies, there is still work to do in order to fully understand the impact of cities on river and stream ecosystems, particularly regarding the relationship between microbial diversity and ecosystem functioning. In URBIFUN, we will address this knowledge gap by relating a gradient of urban impact to the structure of the microbial community and the associated functioning in river sediments. To analyse the shifts that urban areas produce on the structure of the microbial community, we will use a high-throughput sequencing technique (i.e. MiSeq IlluminaTM). We will also analyse how changes in community composition translate into alterations in the ecosystem functioning in situ (i.e. community respiration and primary production). We expect to find shifts in microbial community composition with increasing urban pressure, leading to the identification of potential indicator taxa and community thresholds. We also expect that all these community changes will be reflected at the functional level, with urbanization leading to decreased production-respiration ratios.    

Links of interest:

- DOMIPEX (1st J-AIL collaborative project, 2013-2014)

- AGRYDOM (2n J-AIL collaborative project, 2016-2018)