Streams and rivers represent key functioning units in Earth’s terrestrial system that provide services essential for global energy, food and water security, as well as human recreation. Rivers are responsible for the transport and nutrient processing of terrestrial water and solutes across landscapes with discharge into reservoirs, estuaries, and oceans. Despite these important ecological roles, we know surprisingly little about the microbiomes in river and stream systems. Here, we will address this knowledge gap by sampling over 250 rivers, including the 35 larger rivers in the United States, many of which will be collected over time or across interconnected hydrological units, with a sub-set also receiving metatranscriptomes and metabolome data. To accomplish this breadth and intensity of sampling, we have formed a collaborative 15-member research consortium composed of hydrologists, geochemists, ecologists, and microbiologists. The overarching objective is to genomically resolve the taxonomy, the metabolic potential and expression, and distribution of riverine microorganisms and traits within and across watersheds.
The U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Biological and Environmental Research (BER) under contract DE-AC05-76RL01830 (PNNL) for the River Corridor Hydrobiogeochemistry Science Focus Area.|BER Genomic Sciences Early Career Research Program award DE-SC0019746 to K. Wrighton.