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）获得了一项奖励，以获得一套FlowCam成像颗粒分析系统，以加强一所初级本科院校的多学科研究和教学仪器。FlowCam系统将允许多个学院将他们当前的工作扩展到“浮游生物/颗粒”水平，并/或开始新的浮游生物/颗粒导向项目。FlowCam还将用于当地高中多个部门的多个班级的教学，并将在当前NSF IUSE资助的背景下支持本科生研究项目。每年有430多名纽新大学至少7门课程的本科生和至少2所高中的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，是食物网底层的初级生产者和主要食物来源。在研究入侵物种的繁殖、鱼类多样性、双壳类动物的摄食和生长速度等方面，包括浮游生物/微粒水平的分析，将大大增加我们对各自过程的了解，并有益于若干关键的本地海洋问题。研究项目将包括多种领域，如：两种入侵甲壳类蟹之间的相互作用、浮游植物和浮游动物的长期生物监测研究、小河流羽流中浮游鱼的分布和多样性、双壳类动物利用碎屑的实地调查、与气候变化和流域扰动有关的四个湖泊的浮游生物组成和结构，以及用于评估弹性蛋白样聚合物凝聚体的流动成像技术。

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.