This proposal requests a variety of items for R/V Cape Hatteras to help fulfill the change of scope for OCE-0926699, Dr. Tracy Villareal, PI. The original plan was to study he diazotrophic communities in the Gulf of Mexico, but the oil spill has seriously affected these communities. The scope of the study will now concentrate on the impact of the spill on the planktonic communities. The studies will include fluorimetric and analytic measures of hydrocarbons, functional and taxonomic changes in microbial and metazoan communities, and isotopic signatures of both the dissolved and particulate fractions of the spill. The instrumentation requested in this proposal is necessary to fulfill the change in scope.
Broader Impacts: The acquisition, maintenance and operation of shared-use instrumentation allows NSF-funded researchers from any US university or lab access to working, calibrated instruments for their research, reducing the cost of that research, and expanding the base of potential researchers.
The instrumentation purchased in this award was used for the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. The instrumentation was used in studies which include fluorimetric and analytic measures of hydrocarbons, functional and taxonomic changes in microbial and metazoan communities, and isotopic signatures of both the dissolved and particulate fractions of the spill. Go-Flo water samplers are designed to be deployed closed until they reach a pre-determined depth where they open. They were specifically designed for trace metal studies, to avoid contamination by the sampling ship. These are used to get below any surface oil contamination to obtain water column samples without surface complications. This award also included the replacement of the oil contaminated 12-L water samplers used as standard samplers on R/V CAPE HATTERAS. Neuston nets and plankton nets were purchased through this grant in order to analyze the impacts of the oils on phytoplankton, zooplankton, and neuston communities. They were primarily used to sample fish eggs and larvae and secondarily any tar balls in the surface. They were used again in 2011in the Gulf of Mexico. There were two types of fluorometers purchased through this grant. One measures colored dissolved organic matter in the water column. The second fluorometer is specific for phycoerythrin, a pigment specific for phytoplankton. The grant also funded the purchase of two flow through fluorometers. The R/V CAPE HATTERAS has an over-the-side pumping system that is used with these flow through fluorometers. Their purpose is to collect the underway surface data. Lastly, this grant funded the purchase of a Mini-log temperature and depth logger. For any of the plankton/neuston sampling, besides measuring the flow through the net, time and depth of sampling are also needed to help quantify the sampling scheme.
