Promoting inclusive metrics of success and impact to dismantle a discriminatory reward system in science.

Success and impact metrics in science are based on a system that perpetuates sexist and racist "rewards" by prioritizing citations and impact factors. These metrics are flawed and biased against already marginalized groups and fail to accurately capture the breadth of individuals' meaningful scientific impacts. We advocate shifting this outdated value system to advance science through principles of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion. We outline pathways for a paradigm shift in scientific values based on multidimensional mentorship and promoting mentee well-being. These actions will require collective efforts supported by academic leaders and administrators to drive essential systemic change.

Temporal and spatial variability of instream indicator bacteria (Escherichia coli) and implications for water quality monitoring.

Many water quality monitoring programs quantify Escherichia coli, an indicator of fecal contamination and potential sewage pollution. However, interpretation of E. coli data can be complex due to abiotic factors that influence its growth and mortality. The goal of this study was to quantify the variability of E. coli in a river and assess the impact of that variability on water quality monitoring study design and sewage pollution source identification. Over 1900 samples were collected and analyzed from 2007 to 2017 in the Norwalk River in Connecticut. Sixty-six percent of the samples collected during weekly to monthly monitoring had E. coli concentrations below 200 CFU/100 mL, indicating that elevated bacteria concentrations were captured infrequently. Patterns observed during daily sampling indicated that the randomization of sampling days within a week may support the identification of pollution sources driven by human behavioral patterns. Spatial autocorrelation in bacteria concentrations was not observed between sites, indicating that the sample locations were not spaced sufficiently close together to be redundant for monitoring. On finer spatial scales however, detection of a known pollution source was found to be challenging at even short distances downstream, with less than 25% of the original source concentration detected at 10 m downstream and less than 10% by 1000 m downstream, suggesting that a high density of study sites may be needed to detect potential sources. These findings can be used to better understand the natural variability of this important indicator organism in freshwater systems, and inform more efficient and effective monitoring.

Salt marsh sediment bacterial communities maintain original population structure after transplantation across a latitudinal gradient.

Dispersal and environmental selection are two of the most important factors that govern the distributions of microbial communities in nature. While dispersal rates are often inferred by measuring the degree to which community similarity diminishes with increasing geographic distance, determining the extent to which environmental selection impacts the distribution of microbes is more complex. To address this knowledge gap, we performed a large reciprocal transplant experiment to simulate the dispersal of US East Coast salt marsh Spartina alterniflora rhizome-associated microbial sediment communities across a latitudinal gradient and determined if any shifts in microbial community composition occurred as a result of the transplantation. Using bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing, we did not observe large-scale changes in community composition over a five-month S. alterniflora summer growing season and found that transplanted communities more closely resembled their origin sites than their destination sites. Furthermore, transplanted communities grouped predominantly by region, with two sites from the north and three sites to the south hosting distinct bacterial taxa, suggesting that sediment communities transplanted from north to south tended to retain their northern microbial distributions, and south to north maintained a southern distribution. A small number of potential indicator 16S rRNA gene sequences had distributions that were strongly correlated to both temperature and nitrogen, indicating that some organisms are more sensitive to environmental factors than others. These results provide new insight into the microbial biogeography of salt marsh sediments and suggest that established bacterial communities in frequently-inundated environments may be both highly resistant to invasion and resilient to some environmental shifts. However, the extent to which environmental selection impacts these communities is taxon specific and variable, highlighting the complex interplay between dispersal and environmental selection for microbial communities in nature.

Decoupled distance-decay patterns between dsrA and 16S rRNA genes among salt marsh sulfate-reducing bacteria.

In many habitats, microorganisms exhibit significant distance-decay patterns as determined by analysis of the 16S rRNA gene and various other genetic elements. However, there have been few studies that examine how the similarities of both taxonomic and functional genes co-vary over geographic distance within a group of ecologically related microbes. Here, we determined the biogeographic patterns of the functional dissimilatory sulfite reductase gene (dsrA) and the 16S rRNA gene in sulfate-reducing bacterial communities of US East Coast salt marsh sediments. Distance-decay, ordination and statistical analyses revealed that the distribution of 16S rRNA genes is strongly influenced by geographic distance and environmental factors, whereas the dsrA gene is not. Together, our results indicate that 16S rRNA genes are likely dispersal limited and under environmental selection, whereas dsrA genes appear randomly distributed and not selected for by any expected environmental variables. Selection, drift, dispersal and mutation are all factors that may help explain the decoupled biogeographic patterns for the two genes. These data suggest that both the taxonomic and functional elements of microbial communities should be considered in future studies of microbial biogeography to aid in our understanding of the diversity, distribution and function of microorganisms in the environment.

Flowering and biomass allocation in U.S. Atlantic coast Spartina alterniflora.

PREMISE OF THE STUDY: Salt marshes are highly productive and valuable ecosystems, providing many services on which people depend. Spartina alterniflora Loisel (Poaceae) is a foundation species that builds and maintains salt marshes. Despite this species' importance, much of its basic reproductive biology is not well understood, including flowering phenology, seed production, and the effects of flowering on growth and biomass allocation. We sought to better understand these life history traits and use that knowledge to consider how this species may be affected by climate change. METHODS: We examined temporal and spatial patterns in flowering and seed production in S. alterniflora at a latitudinal scale (along the U.S. Atlantic coast), regional scale (within New England), and local scale (among subhabitats within marshes) and determined the impact of flowering on growth allocation using field and greenhouse studies. KEY RESULTS: Flowering stem density did not vary along a latitudinal gradient, while at the local scale plants in the less submerged panne subhabitats produced fewer flowers and seeds than those in more frequently submerged subhabitats. We also found that a shift in biomass allocation from above to belowground was temporally related to flowering phenology. CONCLUSIONS: We expect that environmental change will affect seed production and that the phenological relationship with flowering will result in limitations to belowground production and thus affect marsh elevation gain. Salt marshes provide an excellent model system for exploring the interactions between plant ecology and ecosystem functioning, enabling better predictions of climate change impacts.