ABSTRACT 97-08136 Ward Ecology of hot spring microbial mat communities: Causes and importance of biodiversity. The objective of this research is to determine whether the same forces that caused the evolution of plant and animal species also caused the evolution of microbial species. We use molecular methods to detect heretofore unrecognized microorganisms in natural geothermal environments, which serve as model systems for understanding the biodiversity, ecology and evolution of microbial species. We will study whether the bacteria we have detected in Yellowstone National Park hot springs evolved-like Galapagos finches-by adapting to specific environmental features (e.g., temperature, light, pH, sulfide), and whether bacteria in geographically separated hot springs constitute different species (like flightless birds on different continents). These findings will help us define what bacterial species are, and gain a predictive knowledge of their ecological importance and of their recovery for potential biotechnological use. Despite out extensive use of microbial products such as antibiotics, fewer than 1% of the species of microorganisms are known to science.
