Acquisition of Instruments to Facilitate and Enhance Research Projects and Undergraduate Education in Aquatic Environmental Biogeochemistry at TAMUG

该合同将用于购买用于生态研究的仪器，包括一个荧光显微镜和照相机，以及一个声学多普勒电流剖面仪（ADCP）的底部底座。这些仪器将使研究沿海和海洋环境生物地球化学方面的复杂问题成为可能，并将加强TAMUG的本科和研究生教育和研究经验。这些仪器对于支持两个主要主题的研究至关重要：1)一甲基汞（MMHg）的生物地球化学，以及2)建立沿海观测站作为本科生培训平台。利用原位杂交技术在水柱和沉积物中测定汞甲基化的细菌种类组成和位置。湍流混合对颗粒和污染物垂直分布的作用将在底部安装的ADCP的帮助下确定。这些新仪器将使我们能够在各种地点更详细地研究生物地球化学的多方面（例如，汞，浮游植物和细菌），包括但不限于墨西哥湾北部的缺氧区，北极河口和加尔维斯顿湾的一个小型沿海河口。新的仪器将加强TAMUG的本科生和研究生培训计划，在Offat's Bayou建立了一个沿海天文台，用于推广和教育。这个天文台被设计成一个主要为本科生和由本科生管理的科学方法和仪器训练区。每学期约有40名本科生学习新乐器；理想情况下，超过60%的学生将多次使用该设备。该仪器还将促进对汞污染的重要研究，汞污染是墨西哥湾沿岸的一个主要公共卫生问题。此外，这些仪器将有助于吸引更高水平的本科生、研究生和博士后科学家。

This award will be used to acquire instrumentation for ecological research, including an epifluorescence microscope and camera and a bottom mount for an acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP). These instruments will make it possible to target complex questions in coastal and oceanic environmental biogeochemistry, and they will enhance the undergraduate and graduate education and research experiences within TAMUG. These instruments are critical in supporting research on 2 major topics, 1) the biogeochemistry of monomethylmercury (MMHg), and 2) the establishment of a coastal observatory as a platform for undergraduate training. The new epifluorescence microscope will enable us to determine the bacterial species composition and locations of mercury methylation by applying in situ hybridization techniques in the water column and the sediments. The role of turbulent mixing for vertical distribution of particulates and contaminants will be determined with the help of the bottom mounted ADCP. These new instruments will allow us to study multifaceted aspects of biogeochemistry (e.g., Hg, phytoplankton, and bacteria) in more detail in a variety of locations including, but not limited to, the hypoxic area in the northern Gulf of Mexico, in Arctic estuaries, and in a small coastal bayou in Galveston Bay. The new instrumentation will enhance the undergraduate and graduate training programs at TAMUG, where a coastal observatory for outreach and education is being established at Offat's Bayou. This observatory is being designed as a scientific methods and instrumentation training area run primarily for and by undergraduates. Approximately 40 undergraduates are expected to learn from the new instruments during any given semester; ideally more than 60% of the student population will have worked with the equipment on several occasions. The instrumentation will also facilitate important research on mercury contamination, a major public health concern on the Gulf coast. In addition, the instrumentation will help attract a higher caliber of undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral scientists.