ECOSYSTEM PROCESSES IN THE AGE OF ANTIBIOTICS

In 1928, Alexander Fleming identified the antibiotic properties of penicillin. Since this discovery antibiotics have been a boon for human health as well as for agricultural livestock production. In fact, the latter utilizes 80% of the antibiotics produced in the United States, a staggering 33 million pounds a year. Most of these antibiotics and antibiotic derivatives ultimately enter the environment, leading to the assertion that no environment on earth is free from the influence of agricultural antibiotics. Despite this, little research has examined the environmental influence agricultural antibiotics are likely to have, for example, on soil microbial communities and the ecosystem processes they mediate. This research will determine the effect antibiotics have on soil food webs and ecosystem processes both now and in an uncertain future. While examining the environmental implications of antibiotics, this project will include training at the graduate student and postdoctoral levels, and develop an authentic, expeditionary style curriculum that can be integrated across multiple middle schools which enables students to actively participate in research. This research is building on previous USDA funding via an NSF CAREER award.

This research is supported by the National Science Foundation under award numbers 1832888 and 1845417. This research was supported by Agricultural and Food Research Competitive grant no. 2013-67019-21363 from the USDA-NIFA.