Real Time GIS Data Tool, GeoData Web Editor

Yichum Xie

This technology is an open source GIS data tool. GIS provides a mechanism for management, analysis, and display of geographic knowledge, which is represented using a series of information sets such as maps and globes, geographic data sets, processing and work flow models, data models, and metadata. This technology utilizes an existing platform technology from ESRI Inc., ArcIMS. The ArcIMS platform technology is a server-based product that provides a scalable framework for distributing GIS services and data over the Web. The tool provides Web publishing capability for GIS maps, data, and metadata for access by users inside and outside an organization. ArcIMS enables Web sites to offer GIS data, interactive maps, metadata catalogs, and focused GIS applications. The GeoData function allows a real time editor application to be used for mapping and visualizing changes in location. The technology is similar to MapQuest, but differs in that it interprets street anomalies more accurately and further inputs those changes automatically into the information center responsible for data tracking (in Michigan, as an example, it is the Michigan Information System).

Web Enabled Urban Planning Teaching Tool Called Web Polis

Norman Tyler

Web Polis is an interactive tool developed to encourage and facilitate community participation through an online portal. This technology provides a direct link for local communities through an open information sharing environment. Web Polis offers a suite of applications including online discussion forums, newsletters, consensus builders, real estate analysis, a mapping/GIS component for spatial analysis, and community online survey prototypes with integral statistical analyses. The targeted users of the tool include city officials, economic development groups, the educational community (to teach politics and city government), and urban planning groups.

GIS Software Development for Optimization of Web Map Services

Bin Li

This work is focused on Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology that enables the research team to collate and analyze information from diverse data sets very rapidly. This GIS integrating technology draws upon and extends existing techniques. Other areas of interest include Cartography, GeoComputation, and Economic Geography.

Rhizosphere Influence on Hydrocarbon Metabolizing Microorganisms

Gregory Colores

The goal of this project is to use cultivation and non-cultivation based methods to characterize the microbial populations associated with plant rhizospheres in hydrocarbon-impacted soils. A series of plots have been established in polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) impacted soils that have been planted with species native to Michigan. Preliminary results with these plots indicate that individual plant species have different effects on the extent of hydrocarbon removal. In this research project, experiments will be conducted to evaluate the different influences that unique plant species have on the microbial communities inhabiting the rhizospheres. This will be performed by analyzing soil samples collected from different plots at various time intervals. Microbial communities will be characterized by 1) sequencing a gene that will enable the identification of microorganisms present (16S rRNA genes) 2) sequencing genes involved in PAH-degradation (PAH dioxygenases), and 3) comparing carbon utilization profiles of rhizosphere samples. It is anticipated that these experiments will reveal microbiological factors that enable some plants to accelerate the removal of PAHs from contaminated soils, whereas others hinder their removal. The broader impacts include developing an ecological framework for understanding how an applied technology like phytoremediation can be optimized. Some aspects of this project will also be integrated into a semester long cooperative laboratory experience for a microbial ecology and plant physiology class taught during the same semester. Further, this support will be used to increase research opportunities for underrepresented populations through local outreach and through additional, formal NSF channels (e.g. REU and RET supplements).

Biogeochemical Exploration of Acidic and Neutral Hypersaline Environments of Australia

Kathleen Benison

This is a collaborative project of Drs. Melanie R. Mormile, Francisca E. Oboh-Ikuenobe (University of Missouri-Rolla), and Kathleen C. Benison (Central Michigan University) to determine if evaporites truly trap a representative population of microorganisms from hypersaline environments. If this is found to be true, these findings can possibly be extrapolated to microorganisms entrapped in ancient or possibly extraterrestrial evaporites and used to describe previous microbial communities and therefore, make interpretations about past water chemistries and past climates. Microorganisms represent the basic life forms existing in most environmental settings. They are sensitive to climatic parameters, and can influence water chemistry, biological activity, and mineralization. Evaporite minerals are a wealth of paleoenvironmental data due to their sensitivity to climate, water chemistry, and hydrology. In addition, evaporites can form in extreme environmental conditions, such as extremely acid saline lakes in Western Australia. These lakes might serve as good analogs to Mars. Traditionally, studies of evaporite settings and their deposits have overlooked microorganisms largely because they are generally poorly preserved in the rock record. However, through this research, answers to the following questions will be found: What microorganisms are present in the lake waters, groundwaters, and sediments of acid and neutral saline lake environments? Are the microorganisms found living in the waters represented in the fluid inclusions of the evaporite minerals? Are the microorganisms specific acidophiles? What role did the microorganisms play in the evolution of the water chemistry? To answer these questions, a sampling trip will be made to Australia to collect a comprehensive set of lake water, groundwater, evaporite, and siliciclastic sediment samples. The following objectives will be achieved: 1. Identify and compare the biological remains in halite and gypsum with those in their parent waters and sediments. Both traditional culture methods and molecular biology techniques will be used to compare the microbial populations in the environments listed above. 2. Grow evaporite crystals under laboratory conditions to study selected environmental influences on crystal formation and the microorganisms that become entrapped. 3. Identify any differences in microorganisms (ranging from prokaryotes to freshwater dinoflagellates and algae) between neutral and moderately acidic saline lakes and groundwaters in Victoria and Western Australia, between neutral and extremely acidic saline lakes within a small region of Western Australia, as well as among extremely acidic saline lakes and groundwaters in Western Australia. The 16S rDNA from the bacteria isolated from these environments will be sequenced and compared. 4. Constrain depositional, environmental, and climatic conditions using basic sedimentology, petrography, fluid inclusion studies, and palynology. Sedimentary structures and grain characteristics will be used to trace depositional history. We anticipate that novel microorganisms will be found. These organisms can possibly be used for the bioremediation of contaminated sites that are impacted by extremes in saline and acidic conditions. In addition, our findings will have implications for future Mars research and the possibility that life can occur on planetary bodies besides Earth. Of all the planetary bodies explored, Mars most closely resemble Earth. In particular, terrestrial acid sedimentary systems are similar in general mineralogy, geochemistry, and geomorphology to the Martian surface. Furthermore, this project will be responsible for the training of students ranging from undergraduate level to Post-Doctoral students. There is also a significant outreach component that includes a partnership with the St. Louis Science Center as well as a course on the geology and microbiology of extreme environments targeted towards K-12 educators.

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