NEERS MEETING ABSTRACTS - ALL
Pregnall, A. M., Biology Department, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
IN THE WAKE OF DRAKE, COOK AND DARWIN: EXPLORING COASTAL PATAGONIA AT THE END OF THE AMERICAS
In February 2012, I spent three weeks hosting a Vassar College alumnae trip to Patagonia. We traveled from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost city in the world, on the Beagle Channel in Tierra del Fuego. We then cruised the Cape Horn islands, through Chilean fjords, past glaciers, to the Magellanic penguin rookery on Isla Magdalena in the Straits of Magellan. After landing in Punta Arenas, Chile, we spent several days at Torres del Paine National Park below the southern ice field of Chile. We then flew to Puerto Montt, which is the center of the Chilean salmon aquaculture industry. After a few days in Santiago, a few of us continued on to Easter Island to complete the trip.
Spillane, T.1 and Zeeman, S.2.1Student, University of New England, Biddeford, ME;2Professor and Chair, Department of Marine Science, University of New England, Biddeford, ME.
BACTERIA IN THE SACO RIVER
Fecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB), which includes Escherichia coli, detects the presence of fecal waste in an environment, which can contain pathogens that negatively effect humans and other organism’s health. The Saco River flows through many towns, farms and wetlands, making it a potentially high in FIB, and therefore a water quality concern. This study focuses on 18 sights along the 134mile river from 2010 to 2012. Water and sediment samples are retrieved using the Idexx Colilert-18© and Enterolert© water testing system which gives the number of FIB in the sample; the Colilert-18© test for both total coliform bacteria and total number of E. coli, while the Enterolert© cover enterococci. The results show relatively low concentrations of bacteria in the winter months, leading to a large spike in April after a rain event and increasing throughout the summer months. In order to fully understand the data a side study was done to determine the effects of environmental factors on E.coli. Three different survivability experiments were done testing against varying degrees of sunlight, temperature, and salinity. The base test showed that E. coli can survive for weeks in sterile river water, but in contact with sunlight deactivated within a couple hours. Similar results showed that with increased temperature (40 C) and high salinity (30 ppt) also increased death rates. Some of the results translate to the data on the river, with very low numbers of FIB found at Biddeford Beach, a high saline environment. Sampling continues into 2012 and will examine other factors involved.