The University of Maine seeks funding to purchase a scanning electron microscope (SEM) for its marine laboratory, the Darling Marine Center, for use by 1) resident faculty and students, 2) scientists at the nearby Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, 3) numerous visiting investigators, and 4) members of MEDUSA, a consortium of over 60 Marine undergraduate marine science faculty who are given special access to the Center's facilities. The SEM would support research by University faculty in residence involving the functional morphology of gametes and reproductive systems of shallow water and deep-sea invertebrates, comparative morphology, systematics, and phylogeny of crustaceans, the systematics and biology of coralline algae, studies of plant- herbivore interactions, the process of stromatolite formation by cyanobacteria, and paleoecological studies of deep-sea foraminifers as part of global climate change research. The SEM would be integrated into our summer teaching program to enrich existing courses and to establish new ones. The instrument would be used to support research by scientists at the Bigelow Laboratory's Center for Culture of Marine Phytoplankton to identify species of dinoflagellates and diatoms used for resident research and supplied to other researchers throughout the world. The SEM would also be used to support the diverse research of visiting investigators to the Center including invertebrate systematists supported under a new Marine Biodiveristy Program being developed at the Center.
