Linking Limnology to Cyanotoxins in Drinking Water Using Buoy Sensors and Auto-Sampling

在美国，支持有毒蓝藻堆积的湖泊数量正在增加。因此，与湖泊娱乐活动和鱼类消费有关的人类健康风险日益增加。与蓝藻毒素生产相关的物理化学因素在与蓝藻生态有关的时间尺度(即几分钟到几小时)上定义不清。此外，在美国，湖泊为饮用水处理厂(DWTP)提供水源；急性中毒有很好的记录，但长期接触饮用水中低水平的氰化物毒素却没有。在这个项目中，威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校(UWM)的一个研究小组将在浮标上使用高分辨率传感器和一种新的自动采样设备来调查湖泊环境变量与湖泊和饮用水中氰化物存在之间的关系。密歇根湖分水岭的温尼贝戈湖和一个从湖里取水的污水处理厂将作为模型系统。现场传感器将测量物理环境变量和藻类色素；营养物质、群落组成和氰化毒素将在自动采样器收集的保存水样本中进行测量。斑马鱼化验将用于检测未知毒素和整体水毒性。这一方法应该会显著提高我们对湖泊氰毒素在次日时间尺度上的动态的理解。广泛的影响：该项目将利用其他正在进行的项目的支持，包括华盛顿大学的NSF本科研究和数学项目，以及由全球湖泊生态观测站网络和UWM的儿童环境健康科学核心中心提供的资源、设施和服务。后两个组织将向外部社区传播数据和研究结果，从而接触到参与人类和生态健康研究的跨学科科学家的广泛网络。该项目将为一名女研究生和几名本科生提供培训和支持。NSF和NIEHS的JOINT资助：本项目所基于的原始提案(R01 ES022075-01)已提交给美国国立环境卫生科学研究院(NIH/NIEHS)，以回应由NSF联合赞助的资助机会公告RFA-ES-11-013“海洋、五大湖与人类健康(R01)”。该项目由NSF和NIEHS通过单独的奖项提供合作资金。

In the United States, the number of lakes supporting accumulations of toxic cyanobacterial is on the rise. Consequently there is increasing human health risk associated with lake recreational activities as well as the consumption of fish. The physicochemical factors associated with cyanotoxin production are ill-defined at time-scales relevant to cyanobacterial ecology (i.e., minutes to hours). Moreover, in the U.S. lakes provide source water for drinking water treatment plants (DWTP); acute poisonings are well documented, but chronic exposure to low levels of cyanotoxins in drinking water is not. Lake conditions (limnological variables) that support cyanotoxin production are intrinsically linked to the occurrence of cyanotoxins in drinking water because these conditions also influence cyanotoxin removal efficiency by DWTP processes.In this project, a research team at the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (UWM) will use high-resolution sensors on buoys and a new automated sampling device to investigate relationships between limnological variables and the presence of cyanotoxins in lakes and drinking water. Lake Winnebago in the Lake Michigan watershed and a DWTP drawing water from the lake will serve as the model system. The in situ sensors will measure physical environmental variables and algal pigments; nutrients, community composition, and cyanotoxins will be measured in preserved water samples collected by the automated sampler. A zebra fish assay will be used to detect unknown toxins and overall water toxicity. This approach should significantly advance our understanding of lacustrine cyanotoxin dynamics at sub-daily time scales.Broader Impacts: This project will leverage the support of other ongoing projects, including the NSF Undergraduate Research and Mathematics program at UWM as well as resources, facilities, and services provided by the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network and the Children's Environmental Health Sciences Core Center at UWM. The latter two organizations will disseminate data and findings to the external community, thereby reaching a wide network of transdisciplinary scientists involved in human and ecological health research. The project will provide training and support for a female graduate student and several undergraduate interns.JOINT FUNDING BY NSF AND NIEHS: The original proposal on which this project is based (R01 ES022075-01) was submitted to the National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences (NIH/NIEHS) in response to Funding Opportunity Announcement RFA-ES-11-013 , "Oceans, Great Lakes and Human Health (R01)", an opportunity jointly sponsored by NSF. This project is cooperatively funded through separate awards from NSF and NIEHS.