Collaborative Research: CAUSES AND MECHANISMS OF CELL DEATH IN FRESHWATER PHYTOPLANKTON

在包括人类在内的大多数生物体中，估计死亡率和死亡原因对于了解它们的生态学至关重要。不幸的是，对于浮游植物(位于湖泊和海洋食物链底部的微小光合作用生物体)来说，我们不知道它们为什么死亡以及如何死亡。这种知识的缺乏是一个问题，因为浮游植物的死亡可能是了解有害藻华以及对污染或气候变化的反应的关键因素。研究人员将采用医学上常用的细胞生物学技术(包括显微镜和流式细胞术--一种快速测量活细胞的专门技术)，在实验室以及淡水池塘和湖泊中研究浮游植物的死亡。他们将确定引发浮游植物死亡的关键环境因素(例如温度、光线或营养物质的可获得性)，以及浮游植物在自然界中死亡的时间和方式。这些信息将被用来开发一个数学模型，说明单个浮游植物细胞如何根据环境条件生长、分裂和死亡。这些技术和模型将提高监测水生生态系统以发现环境威胁、预测环境变化的影响并为管理决策提供信息的能力。这项研究将促进本科生的培训，通过威斯康星大学密尔沃基分校(UWM)的生物和数学项目以及东北大学(NEU)的环境科学与工程项目将他们整合到跨学科的研究经验中。通过威斯康星大学S麦克奈尔学者计划和S大学查尔斯河本科生研究机会计划，将促进代表人数不足的群体的参与。便携式流式细胞仪将加强研究和教育的基础设施，并通过引入一项新技术来丰富威斯康星大学的本科生湖沼学课程。将通过一系列公开研讨会和继续开发基于网络的教育材料，促进广泛传播成果和提高公众对科学的理解。

In most organisms, including humans, estimating rates of mortality and the causes of death is critical to understanding their ecology. Unfortunately, for phytoplankton (the microscopic photosynthetic organisms at the base of food chains in lakes and oceans) we do not know why and how they die. This lack of knowledge is a problem because phytoplankton death may be a critical factor in understanding harmful algal blooms, and responses to pollution or changing climate. The investigators will adapt cell biology techniques commonly used in medicine (including microscopy and flow cytometry - a specialized technique for rapidly measuring living cells), to study death in phytoplankton in the laboratory and in freshwater ponds and lakes. They will determine the key environmental factors (e.g. temperature, light or availability of nutrients) that trigger death in phytoplankton, and when and how phytoplankton die in nature. This information will be used to develop a mathematical model of how individual phytoplankton cells grow, divide and die, depending on environmental conditions. The techniques and the model will improve the ability to monitor aquatic ecosystems to detect environmental threats, predict the effects of environmental change and inform management decisions. The research will promote training of undergraduates, integrating them into interdisciplinary research experiences through programs in biology and mathematics at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) and environmental science and engineering at Northeastern University (NEU). Participation of under-represented groups will be facilitated through UWM?s McNair scholars program and NEU?s Opportunities for Undergraduate Research on the Charles River program. A portable flow cytometer will enhance infrastructure for research and education, and enrich undergraduate limnology classes at UWM by introducing a new technology. Broad dissemination of results and improvement of public understanding of science will be facilitated through a series of public seminars, and continuing development of web-based educational materials.