This award supports the acquisition of an auto analyzer capable of running numerous analytes and a microscope workstation that would bring together three research-grade microscopes and an image analysis system compatible and interchangeable with more than one microscope. The instruments will be housed at SUNY Oneonta's Biological Field Station (BFS) and will be an integral part of numerous research projects, generally oriented towards environmental, ecological, and long-term monitoring programs in inland lakes. The instruments will allow essential data to be collected as part of the BFS's long-term monitoring on inland lakes (Otsego Lake and nearby ponds; Otsego County, NY). Biology, chemistry, earth sciences and secondary science education faculty conducting research projects focusing on invasive species ecology, particularly dispersal of zebra mussels from lakes to streams; meiofauna communities in nearshore habitats of lakes; microscopic food webs consisting of freshwater protozoans (particularly Gymnamoebae), bacteria, and micrometazoans in Otsego Lake; chironomid mouth-part deformities related to heavy metals and other environmental pollutants; and subsurface water dynamics will benefit from access to the instruments. The instruments will allow expansion of monitoring efforts to include testing ecological theories with small experimental manipulations and whole-ecosystem (e.g., whole-lake) manipulations. These projects serve the community by using ecological theory to control cultural eutrophication, monitor water quality, assess environmental pollutants, and possibly prevent the spread of aquatic nuisance species. Additionally, the BFS has a strong tradition in training students (college-bound high school, undergraduate, and graduate students) in ecological and environmental studies. The purchase will provide access to modern research instrumentation to many undergraduate interns, biology education majors required to conduct and present novel environmental research, and graduate students as they conduct independent and directed research projects.
