Community Science Project: Exploring Plastic Pollution With Undergraduate Researchers and Aspiring Girl Scientists

Community science is key to contributing data to large-scale projects. Public connections inform groups about human effects on the environment and afford opportunities for university students to demonstrate skills learned during their major programs. Marine plastic pollution has been an emerging topic of concern for several decades. Understanding the distribution and impacts is key to developing action plans that will reduce the input of plastics into the world’s ocean, specifically the Salish Sea. Undergraduate students at University of Washington Tacoma are trained in sampling techniques, laboratory analysis, and data synthesis in several courses throughout their program. Student researchers, along with their advisor participate in the environmental education nonprofit Sound Experience’s Girls at the Helm. Girls at the Helm is a 3-day sail aboard Puget Sound’s Environmental Tallship the S/V Adventuress with an all-female identifying crew, researchers, and girls. Participants include youth from diverse backgrounds throughout the country. Four research students have participated as science mentors, becoming experts able to communicate their work to others. Data collected over the years has been used to support undergraduate capstone projects in several Bachelor’s Degrees, as well as theses in Geographic Information Systems Master’s Degree. Community science programs like Girls at the Helm is important to educate communities about environmental issues, while providing participants the opportunity to collect field data. The connection to place, our Salish Sea, lasts a lifetime, often recruiting girls into STEM fields. Undergraduate researchers build self-confidence in their ability to understand, teach, and lead within their chosen field

2021 Particle Grain-Size and Total Organic Content Analyses of Surface Sediments from Puget Sound and Elliot Bay near Seattle, WA

Sediment characteristics are important to analyze to connect environmental conditions to sea floor sediments and characteristics of interest (i.e., benthic communities). Total organic carbon can represent oxygenated or reduced environments and/or biological vitality depending on water depth. Grain-size can represent high or low energy if sandy or silty, and the variability of grain-sizes (sorting) can indicate stormy conditions, landslides, or dumping. Washington State Department of Ecology’s Marine Sediment Monitoring Team has provided sediment samples to the University of Washington Tacoma for analysis since 2014, supporting undergraduate research efforts. This poster will present data on total organic carbon and particle grain-size from samples collected in 2021 from the long-term stations, covering the whole Puget Sound, as well as a high-resolution sampling of Elliot Bay near Seattle, WA. Samples were collected using a Van Veen grab sampler, and then analyzed in the lab with a Beckman-Coulter Particle Size Analyzer for sediment grain-size. The loss-on-ignition technique was used to determine the total organic content. This study provides a foundation for scientists to utilize in understand and maintaining environmental health

Exploration of microplastics in the lower Puyallup River watershed

Microplastics are polymers \u3c 5mm, varying in shape, color, chemical composition, and density. Manufactured plastics are primary microplastics which include pellets, fibers, and microbeads. Secondary microplastics are plastics fragmented through photodegradation and/or mechanical weathering. Research has documented microplastics in high densities (e.g., 100,000 items per m3) in marine environments, but little work has been conducted in riverine environments. Our study is focusing on the Puyallup River Watershed, located in Washington State, and its role in microplastic transport. The Puyallup River and its two principal tributaries, the White River and the Carbon River, drain a watershed of approximately 1,040 square miles and stream from several glaciers located on Mount Rainier, including the Puyallup Glacier. During our preliminary research, samples were collected monthly, both upstream and downstream of municipal wastewater treatment plants, from five cities in the lower reaches of the Puyallup River Watershed. Fibers, fragments, and foams were identified, characterized and quantified. Only 1-foam and 5-fragments were found, with the majority being fibers. The concentration of fibers, ranged from 0 to 204 fibers/L, with an average of 22-fibers/L in each sample collected. Results were statistically inconclusive to determine if wastewater treatment plants were a point source of plastic pollution to the Puyallup River Watershed, although more fiber numbers were located upstream than downstream at most sites

Comparison of Alexandrium spp. surface sediment cyst maps from Quartermaster Harbor in 2007 and 2017

Quartermaster Harbor (QMH), in central Puget Sound, has historically been a hotspot for the occurrence of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium spp. and associated summer shellfish bed closures. Alexandrium spp. overwinters as cysts in the sediment and germinates into swimming vegetative cells during the summer when conditions are right. Alexandrium spp. produces neurotoxins which can be concentrated in the tissue of filter-feeding shellfish, which in turn can be fatal to humans if ingested. In 2005, the first Puget Sound wide surface sediment cyst mapping survey found QMH to have the highest concentration of Alexandrium spp. cysts in the sound. A more detailed surface sediment Alexandrium spp. cyst map of QMH was constructed in the winter of 2007/2008 using 24 van veen samples. The highest concentration of cysts was in the inner harbor and central western shore of the outer harbor. Cyst concentration was low near the mouth of the harbor, where tidal currents are highest. Water circulation models of QMH by WADOE found that the QMH inner harbor has a residence time of 1-3 months, which could lead to retention and increased concentration of cysts within the harbor. Puget Sound wide surveys in the winters of 2011, 2012 and 2013 once again found high concentrations of Alexandrium spp. cysts in the surface sediments of QMH, although not as high as previously. The same 24 station detailed survey of QMH cysts and sediments was mapped again in 2017 to see if the distribution pattern of cysts in the bay had changed. The general pattern of relative abundance has remained the same, however the concentration overall has decreased slightly to about half of what it was ten years ago. This may be due to biological bloom dynamics controlling the absolute abundance, while physical forcing conditions determine the relative concentration spatial distribution

Understanding Microplastic Marine Pollution with Citizen Science Partnerships

Plastic marine debris is found in coastal and marine waters worldwide. There has been an increase in the study of microplastics, synthetic polymers \u3c 5 mm, throughout the world. Researchers at the Center for Urban Waters, University of Washington Tacoma have collaborated with Service Education Adventure (SEA) and Sound Experience, local boat-based environmental education groups in Puget Sound, Washington, to collect environmental samples and educate participants on marine debris environmental issues, specifically microplastics. Both groups were trained on how to collect microplastics in the field using a modified manta net, sending the samples to the Center for Urban Waters for analysis. Undergraduate student researchers participated in the program through assisting in training, demonstrating collection on vessels, and processing samples in the laboratory. This presentation will review the progress of development of these relationships, benefits of each group’s contributions, and challenges met during the partnerships

Alexandrium cyst distribution and germination in Puget Sound

The Puget Sound Alexandrium Harmful Algal Bloom (PS-AHAB: www.tiny.cc/psahab) program, funded by NOAA/ECOHAB, seeks to understand environmental controls on the benthic (cyst) and planktonic life stages of the toxic dinoflagellate Alexandrium catenella, and disentangle the effects of climate pathways on the timing and location of blooms. Spatially detailed mapping of winter surface sediment cyst distributions in 2011, 2012, and 2013 found the highest cyst concentrations in Bellingham Bay in the north and Quartermaster Harbor in central Puget Sound. However, the viability of cysts at these seed bed areas is low – with fewer than 54% of cysts germinating when incubated at favorable temperatures. The time of year that cysts can germinate does not appear to be controlled by an endogenous clock, but the rate of germination is strongly determined by temperature. These results may complicate potential relationships between cyst abundances and bloom magnitude the following season. A monthly time series of cyst abundances was also collected at two locations in Quartermaster Harbor from 2012-2013 as part of a related Sea Grant project investigating the seasonal variability in cyst abundances. Cyst abundances varied by a factor of ~6 with the lowest cyst abundances occurring in the spring (Apr) and the highest cyst abundances occurring in late fall (Oct/Nov). This seasonal pattern is consistent with observed A. catenella bloom dynamics in Quartermaster Harbor. The improved understanding of the processes that govern cyst germination and bloom initiation provided by this study contribute towards the development of a predictive capacity for A. catenella blooms in Puget Sound. Details on A. catenella growth rates and toxicity and an analysis of potential bloom transport using a high-resolution hydrodynamic simulation of Puget Sound and adjacent coastal waters (MoSSea: http://faculty.washington.edu/pmacc/MoSSea/), as well as simulations of potential future climate impacts on blooms, will be discussed in separate presentations by B.D. Bill and S.K. Moore respectively, at this conference

Julie Masura Interview

The interviewee discusses how environmental justice is primarily about underrepresented people living in heavily industrialized areas that do not always receive the same treatment as higher income groups. She believes that citizen education and awareness is paramount, and feels that even small, incremental changes made on an individual level can help resolve potential issues. The interviewee discusses how the urban environment is a critically important part of nature. Therefore, we should reflect on how our actions are affecting other life, since we are all part of the natural world. She describes how environmental decline has caused health concerns for people and, as a result, has been the chief catalyst in initiating discourse about environmental justice. The interviewee presents many anthropocentric concerns, but also ties in concepts that are related to the well-being of nature

Emergency Response Mapping of Alexandrium Cysts in the Surface Sediments of Hood Canal WA

In September and October 2014, an unprecedented bloom of Alexandrium occurred in Dabob and Quilcene Bays, Hood Canal, WA. This area, and southward through Hood Canal, was historically biotoxin free. At the peak of the event, toxin levels in shellfish reached 12,688 μg STX equiv. per 100 g shellfish tissue, more than 150 times the regulatory limit for human consumption. It is not known what caused the bloom, or if the conditions that gave rise to the event will happen again. Nevertheless, concern remains over the increased risk for future blooms because Alexandrium species produce resting cysts that overwinter on the seafloor and can germinate the following season providing the inoculum for more blooms. In response, we conducted an emergency cyst survey throughout Hood Canal in January 2015 to determine if the area had been “seeded” with Alexandrium cysts. Prior cyst mapping efforts from 2011-2013 found zero or very low (5-10 cysts per cc wet sediment) concentrations of cysts throughout Hood Canal. In January 2015, up to 120 and 180 cysts per cc wet sediment were observed in Quilcene Bay and Dabob Bay, respectively, indicating that a new Alexandrium seed bed formed in the area following the 2014 bloom. In 2015, increased vigilance and monitoring by the Washington State Department of Health and the SoundToxins Program provided early warning of a toxic bloom of Alexandrium in April. This toxic event spread throughout Hood Canal over the summer, resulting in shellfish harvesting closures in this area for the first time. Another cyst survey in January 2016 will determine whether the distribution and abundance of Alexandrium cysts in Hood Canal has increased, and will provide human health officials, marine resource managers and shellfish growers with updated maps of newly established cyst beds. The results of all surveys will be presented here

Historical Abundance of the Harmful Dinoflagellate Alexandrium in a Sediment Core From Quartermaster Harbor, Puget Sound, Washington

Alexandrium is a dinoflagellate that produces saxitoxin, known to cause paralytic shellfish poisoning from consumption of exposed shellfish. Due to the possibility of toxicity and potential economic impacts, the presence of Alexandrium is regularly monitored throughout the Puget Sound. Alexandrium spends part of its life cycle as a cyst in the sediment before germinating to become a free-swimming dinoflagellate Alexandrium cysts in surface sediments are used to determine the present spatial distribution of this organism, while cyst concentrations in sediment cores can be used to evaluate historical presence and temporal variability. A research project from 2005, funded by NOAA’s ECOHAB program, has shown that surface sediments in Quartermaster Harbor (QMH), a harbor with low flushing rates due to is geographical orientation, had the highest abundance of Alexandrium cysts than anywhere in Puget Sound. In July 2010, sediment cores were collected from five locations in Puget Sound to determine the historical distribution of Alexandrium. The purpose of this study looks at a 202 cm Kasten core collected from the inner harbor of QMH. Sediments were prepared by sieving material between 20 and 90 µm, and staining with Primulin. Prepared sediment was then observed under epifluorescence using an FITC filter on a compound microscope. Results show maximum cysts/mL sediment near the surface, regressing to 0 cysts/mL sediment below 30 cm. The core was characterize by analyzing the grain-size distribution and organic content of each sub-sample of the core in order to determine if there is a relationship between cyst abundance/presence and these properties. 210Pb dating was completed in order to correlate cyst abundance and local changes to the harbor. Understanding the historical distribution of Alexandrium cysts is important in tracing its spread throughout the Puget Sound