Collaborative Research: Causes and Mechanisms of Cell Death in Freshwater Phytoplankton

在包括人类在内的大多数生物中，估计死亡率和死亡原因对于了解它们的生态至关重要。 不幸的是，对于浮游植物（湖泊和海洋中食物链基础的微观光合生物），我们不知道它们为什么以及如何死亡。 这种知识的缺乏是一个问题，因为浮游植物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中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），以研究实验室和淡水池塘和湖泊中浮游植物的死亡。 它们将确定触发浮游植物死亡的关键环境因素（例如温度，光照或营养物质的可用性），以及浮游植物在自然界中何时以及如何死亡。 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的能力，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。 该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）的生物学和数学课程以及东北大学（NEU）的环境科学与工程课程，将他们融入跨学科研究经验。 代表性不足的群体的参与将通过UWM促进？的麦克奈尔学者计划和NEU的机会本科研究查尔斯河计划。 便携式流式细胞仪将加强研究和教育的基础设施，并通过引入新技术丰富UWM的本科湖沼学课程。 将通过举办一系列公众研讨会和继续开发网上教材，促进成果的广泛传播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.