Excellence in Research: The Fate of Microplastics Within the Georgia Bight

这是一项合作努力，旨在确定从主要沿海乔治亚河系统到美国国家海洋和大气管理局格雷礁国家海洋保护区的小颗粒塑料的运动和丰度。通过萨凡纳州立大学（SSU）、东北渔业科学中心（NEFSC桑迪胡克实验室，SHL）、佐治亚大学斯基德威海洋学研究所（UGA SkIO）和格雷礁国家海洋保护区（GRNMS）的现有设备和资源，该团队将解决三个关键的科学目标。此外，为了推进传统黑人学院和大学（HBCUs）的研究，并增加非裔美国人和其他未被充分代表的群体在地球科学领域的公平参与，需要建立机构内部和机构间的合作伙伴关系，重点关注这种合作所带来的智力价值和更广泛的影响。这可以通过与更广泛的研究和社会社区相联系的基于地点的相关研究来实现，为学生提供在科学界中的位置感和对社会社区的贡献感。该项目平衡了科学目标与多维度的学生指导和小颗粒塑料研究的培训，包括有针对性地提高效率和培训初级和二级分析技术，这对研究纳米和微塑料至关重要。利用漂流和静态水跟踪技术，同时收集水-沉积物-生物群，独特的人力浅水收集方法，基于荧光的颗粒检测，拉曼光谱和热解-气相色谱-质谱，该团队将解决以下科学目标：(1)量化和表征乔治亚湾地区水和沉积物中的微纳米塑料分布，特别强调建立这些材料的时空变异性；(2)检查乔治亚湾地区水道内具有代表性的河口动物物种的微和纳米级塑料污染，包括在人口密度高和人口密度低的地区以及近海；(3)完成设计、建造和测试，部署具有成本效益的浅水河口剖面系统，以改善沉积物和水样收集的途径，并对现场特征进行现场分析。该项目将在同一地点收集多种类型的样本，提供高数据密度，使研究人员能够辨别影响乔治亚湾地区微塑料分布的过程。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 is a collaborative effort to determine movements and abundances of small particulate plastics from the main coastal Georgia river systems to the NOAA Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary. Through existing equipment and resources at Savannah State University (SSU),the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC Sandy Hook Laboratory, SHL), the University of Georgia Skidaway Institute of Oceanography (UGA SkIO), and Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary (GRNMS), this team will address three key science objectives. Further, to advance research at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and increase equitable involvement of African Americans and other underrepresented groups in the geosciences, there is a need for intra- and inter-institutional partnerships that are focused on both the intellectual merit and broader impacts radiating from that engagement. This can be achieved through place-based, relevant research that is connected to the broader research and to social communities, providing students with a sense of place within the scientific community and a sense of contribution for their social community. This project balances scientific objectives with multidimensional student mentorship and training in small particulate plastics research that includes targeted improved efficiency and training in primary and secondary analytical techniques, both critical to studying nano- and microplastics.Utilizing drifters and static water-tracking technology, concurrent water-sediment-biota collection, unique human-powered shallow-water collection methods, fluorescence-based particle detection, Raman spectroscopy, and pyrolysis-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, this team will address the following Science objectives: (1) Quantify and characterize micro- and nano-plastic distributions in water and sediments in the Georgia Bight region, with particular emphasis on establishing the temporal and spatial variability of these materials; (2) Examine representative estuarine faunal species within waterways of the Georgia Bight region for micro- and nano-scale plastic contamination, including in regions with high human population densities and low, as well as offshore; and (3) Complete design, construction, and testing to deploy a cost-effective shallow-water estuary profiling system for improved access to sediment and water sample collection and in situ analyses of site characteristics. This project will collect multiple types of samples in the same location, providing high data density that will allow the investigators to discern the processes that affect microplastic distribution in the Georgia Bight region.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.