MRI: Acquisition of a FlowCam to enhance Marine Science Research and Education at the University of New England

位于缅因州比德福德的新英格兰大学(UNE)获得了FlowCam成像粒子分析系统，以加强小学本科院校多学科研究和教学的仪器设备。FlowCam系统将允许多个教员将他们目前的工作扩展到“浮游生物/颗粒物”层面，和/或启动新的面向浮游生物/颗粒物的项目。FlowCam还将用于几个部门的多个班级的教学，在当地的高中，并将在当前NSF IUSE拨款的背景下支持本科生研究项目。每年，UNE至少7门课程的430多名本科生和2所高中的至少120名高中生将参与FlowCam项目。浮游植物、浮游动物和碎屑在海洋食物网中扮演着重要的角色，它们是食物网的初级生产者和关键的食物来源。在关于入侵物种繁殖、鱼类多样性、双壳类摄食和生长速度等研究中纳入浮游生物/颗粒水平的分析将大大增加我们对各自过程的了解，并使几个关键的当地海洋问题受益。研究项目将包括以下不同领域：两种入侵甲壳类螃蟹物种之间的相互作用；对浮游植物和动物的长期生物监测研究；对小河羽流中浮游鱼类的分布和多样性的研究；对双壳类生物利用碎屑的实地调查；四个湖泊的浮游生物组成和结构及其与气候变化和流域扰动的关系；用于评估类似弹性蛋白的聚合物聚集物的流动成像技术。

An award is made to the University of New England (UNE) in Biddeford, Maine, to acquire a FlowCam Imaging Particle Analysis System to strengthen instrumentation for multidisciplinary research and teaching at a primary undergraduate institution. The FlowCam system will allow multiple faculty to extend their current work to the "plankton/particulate" level, and/or start new plankton/particulate-oriented projects. The FlowCam will also be used in teaching of multiple classes in several departments, in local high schools, and will support undergraduate research projects in context of a current NSF IUSE grant. Every year more than 430 undergraduates in at least 7 courses at UNE and at least 120 high school students at 2 high schools will work on FlowCam projects. Phytoplankton, zooplankton and detritus play important roles in the oceans food webs as primary producers and key food sources at the base of the food web. Including plankton/particulate-level analyses in studies on the reproduction of invasive species, fish diversity, bivalve feeding and growth rates and more will significantly increase our understanding of the respective processes and benefit several key local marine issues. Research projects will include such diverse areas as: interactions between two invasive crustacean crab species, a long-term biomonitoring study on phyto- and zooplankton, ichthyoplankton distribution and diversity in a small river plume, field investigations of the use of detritus by bivalves, plankton composition and structure in four lakes as it relates to climate change and watershed perturbations, and flow imaging technology for evaluation of elastin-like polymer coacervates.