NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2019: Mysticetes and baleen as bioindicators of microplastics in marine food webs

本行动资助NSF 2019年度生物学博士后研究奖学金，利用生物馆藏进行研究。该奖学金支持研究和培训将以创新的方式利用生物收集的研究员。目前尚不清楚须鲸摄入微塑料的程度、摄入方式以及是否会对健康产生影响。这项研究寻求这些问题的答案。鲸须在滤食过程中充当筛子，保留猎物。第一个目标是通过实验室实验来测试鲸须捕获悬浮在水中的微塑料的有效性。他还将使用鲸须标本来研究从摄入的塑料中产生的污染物。在一头活鲸中，根据物种的不同，鲸须可以保持两年到二十年的完整，直到它磨损并被从牙龈线向外生长所取代。这一过程与人类指甲或树木年轮的过程类似，使得鲸须可以作为鲸须生长时内部（身体过程）和外部（例如污染物）条件变化的记录。第二个目标是建立使用鲸须追踪污染物暴露的方法。此外，该研究员将指导高中生、本科生和研究生，培养这些年轻学者的第一次研究经验，并帮助该研究员的专业发展。鲸须是神秘鲸特有的角化过滤结构。尽管它的标志性地位，须鲸仍然是神秘的，研究不足。在这项工作中，鲸须将从加利福尼亚搁浅的新鲜死亡标本中获得，并从史密森尼国家自然历史博物馆的收藏中获得。该研究员研究的第一个目标是使用斯坦福大学霍普金斯海洋站的层流箱测试鲸须保留悬浮在水柱中的微塑料的功效。在这个实验中，研究员将使用来自具有不同喂养方式和须鲸形态的物种的须来阐明哪些神秘菌更有可能直接从水柱中摄取微塑料，以及微塑料颗粒大小和浮力如何影响它们的捕获。对于该研究员的第二个目标，将使用高分辨率气相色谱-质谱法分析鲸须标本，以确定是否摄入了合成物质（例如，邻苯二甲酸酯增塑剂、氯化和溴化阻燃剂）。使用相同的分析方法，研究员将利用鲸须的增加特性创建多年的个体年表，以前所未有的地理和物候分辨率阐明微塑料暴露。综上所述，这些研究将为须鲸作为微塑料污染的风向标提供关键评估，并将释放须鲸收集的未开发潜力，以评估整体海洋生态系统的健康状况。此外，该研究员将与加州海洋联盟（California Ocean Alliance）一起开发推广材料，通过斯坦福大学本科教育副教务长（VPUE）项目指导本科生，并帮助高中生通过史密森学会（Smithsonian Institution）的科学（YES!）实习参与青少年活动。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2019, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports research and training of the fellow that will utilize biological collections in innovative ways. It is unknown to what degree baleen whales ingest microplastic, how ingestion occurs, and if there are any health effects. This research seeks answers to these questions. In whales, baleen acts as a sieve and retains prey during filter-feeding. The first objective uses a laboratory experiment to test baleen's effectiveness in trapping microplastics suspended in water. The fellow will also use baleen specimens to study pollutants derived from ingested plastic. In a live whale, baleen remains intact for two years to two decades, dependent on species, before it wears out and is replaced by growing outwards from the gum line. This process, which is similar to that of human fingernails or tree rings, allows baleen to serve as a record of variation in a whale's internal (body processes) and external (e.g., pollutants) conditions at the time that portion of the baleen grew. The second objective will establish methods to use baleen to track contaminant exposure over time. In addition, the fellow will mentor high school, undergraduate, and graduate students, fostering these young scholars' first research experiences and aiding the fellow's professional development.Baleen is a keratinized filtering structure unique to mysticete whales. Despite its iconic status, baleen remains enigmatic and understudied. For this work, baleen will be acquired from freshly deceased specimens that strand in California, and from collections stored at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. The first aim of the fellow's research is to test baleen's efficacy in retaining microplastics suspended in the water column using a laminar flow tank at the Hopkins Marine Station of Stanford University. In this experiment, the fellow will use baleen from species with divergent feeding styles and baleen morphologies to elucidate which mysticetes are more likely to ingest microplastics directly from the water column, and also how microplastic particle size and buoyancy influences their capture. For the fellow's second objective, baleen specimens will be analyzed using high resolution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry for contaminants that are indicative of synthetic material ingestion (e.g., phthalate plasticizers, chlorinated and brominated flame-retardants). Using the same analytical methods, the fellow will leverage the accreting property of baleen to create multi-year intraindividual chronologies that will clarify microplastic exposure in unprecedented geographic and phenological resolution. Taken together, these studies will provide a critical assessment of baleen whales as bellwethers for microplastic pollution and will release the untapped potential of baleen collections to assess overall marine ecosystem health. Furthermore, the fellow will develop outreach materials with the California Ocean Alliance, mentor undergraduates through Stanford's Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education (VPUE) program, and assist high school students in their Youth Engagement through Science (YES!) internship at the Smithsonian Institution.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.