FSML:Expansion and Enhancement of Analytical Facilities at the Shannon Point Marine Center

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Western Washington University's Shannon Point Marine Center(SPMC) is strategically located in the northern Puget Sound basin, providingdirect access from the mainland to a wide variety of marine and estuarinehabitats that support a rich and diverse biota. The location and facilities providedistinctive opportunities for process-oriented research on productivity of coastalwatersheds and wetlands, nutrient cycling and regeneration, microbial ecology, andbenthic metabolism and on life history phenomena of local fish, invertebrate,and marine plant species. SPMC is actively involved in both undergraduate and Master's of Science academic programs including serving as a site for upper division courses and supporting extensive undergraduate and graduate research. Students come from both the home institution and from colleges and universities from around the country. Programs for undergraduates include Research Experiences for Undergraduates, the Minorities in Marine Science Undergraduate Program and the Science Education and Research Undergraduate program. To promote research andTraining, SPMC has developed a database accessible to visitors and remote investigators. In cooperation with the nearby Padilla Bay National EstuarineResearch Reserve, SPMC has identified a number of model study sites that can supportlong-term research in the region, particularly with respect to seagrass communitiesthat are unusually extensive for west coast estuaries. In order to provide additionalfocus to investigations of these communities that can both provide the basis forproductive collaborative research and address local and regional managementconcerns, SPMC is developing an appropriate field and analytical facilities base.With the addition of two new research vessels SPMC is well-equipped to pursueon-site field investigations. Because of greatly increased research and trainingactivity in recent years, however, analytical laboratory space has become a severelylimiting factor. In order to pursue studies of geochemical and biochemicalprocesses and to accommodate the interests of visiting investigators, SPMCwill renovate and properly furnish existing laboratory space for use as anadditional analytical laboratory, thus doubling available space for this purpose.SPMC will also purchase new analytical and support instrumentation not presentlyavailable that will enhance the facilities capacity for research.