主要研究 今天

Of the many forces influencing the fate of the 大湾 estuary during the past century — development, 行业, 气候变化, 资源枯竭-也许没有一个比联合国保健所产生的影响更大. 距离奥伊斯特河河岸不到一英里，有它的 杰克逊河口实验室 伸入河口亚当斯角和它的 贾德·格雷格海洋研究中心 在皮斯卡塔瓜河的下游, 联合国大学已将其可观的科学和文化资源应用于海湾, 试图了解这里的动植物, 它的地质、水文和历史. 这样一来，大海湾就变得更大了.

牡蛎
“非凡的.研究教授雷·格里泽尔就是这么说的 动物学他描述了牡蛎，这是他在大海湾二十年来研究的重点. “是的，它们很好吃. 但最重要的是, in the last 30 years we’ve begun to discover their ecological role is fantastic,他说, noting each briny bivalve’s capacity to filter up to 20 gallons of water per day. 而大湾的牡蛎数量在20世纪90年代急剧下降, 主要是由于一种疾病, 现在稳定了, thanks in part to 17 reef restoration projects led by Grizzle and his longtime research technician Krystin Ward. 最近, 该团队已将部分重点转移到水产养殖上, 现在小湾有16个商业牡蛎养殖场. 随着牡蛎消费量的增长, the work of some 主要研究 researchers aims to help predict future outbreaks and keep sickness off the raw bar. 大湾 is the canary in the Gulf of 缅因州 coal mine when it comes to Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp), 这种细菌病原体可以使牡蛎爱好者生病, 史蒂夫·琼斯说, 研究副教授 自然资源, noting that incidents of anyone getting sick from 大湾 or Gulf of 缅因州 oysters are almost unheard of, but oyster farmers just to the south are increasingly experiencing outbreaks and costly shellfish bed closures as waters warm. 琼斯和副教授 微生物学 Cheryl Whistler are attempting to understand how the changing environment of 大湾 is promoting the strains of Vp that make us sick. And Whistler recently developed a patent-pending method to detect the strains of Vp that cause most of the regional human illness.

马蹄蟹
马蹄蟹, those armored beasts that cover 大湾’s shores in the spring spawning season, 都想帮我们吗. 生物医学产业利用了他们明亮的蓝色血液的独特属性, 从活体动物中提取, 检验注射药品和医疗器械的污染情况, 挽救数百万人的生命. 为了了解这一过程给他们带来的损失 生物科学 Win Watson and graduate student Meghan Owings bleed horseshoe crabs in the lab then fit them with devices that track their depth, 他们被释放后的位置和活动. They’ve found that between five and 30 percent of the animals die within a few days; others don’t die but are less active and less likely to spawn. 他们的研究表明，这不仅仅是失血的问题, but the bleeding combined with exposure to heat and air during transport that’s most stressful to the animals. 沃森对这项研究充满希望, 与普利茅斯州立大学合作进行, 能提高螃蟹的存活率吗. “这些家伙已经存在了4.5亿年. 我们真的想为他们的灭亡负责吗?他问道。.

雨水
自2004年以来, 联合国大学的雨水中心 has worked to protect 大湾 — and 42 other water bodies in communities across the globe — from an abundant, 如果令人惊讶, 污染源:雨水. 被雨水, 雨水冲刷着道路, 停车场, roofs and other impervious surfaces carries excess nitrogen from sources such as exhaust from cars, 化肥甚至动物粪便都被排入海湾. “Our mission is to address that by cleaning up the water and putting it back in the ground,雨水中心95届项目主任杰米·霍勒说, ‘15G. 在校园边缘的现场设施里, the center has researched and tested 40-some systems and identified those that work best to keep nitrogen out of the bay. 作为一个项目 联合国儿童基金会的合作推广, the center shares its expertise with communities in the estuary watershed to help them meet increasingly strict regulations for reducing nitrogen.

潮汐能
一个由主要研究工程师组成的团队试图从大湾收获新的东西:电力. 河口拥有北美最强的潮汐流, making it the ideal lab for testing equipment that could generate energy from the ebb and flow. 主要研究的 海洋可再生能源中心 在苏利文将军桥下部署潮汐涡轮机, 小海湾和皮斯卡塔夸河的交汇处. 往下游走, 朴茨茅斯之间的纪念大桥下的涡轮机, 新汉普郡, 和Kittery, 缅因州, harness the tides to power a suite of sensors that constantly monitor the health of that so-called “living bridge.”

数据监控
乔·索尔兹伯里知道上周吹过大海湾的风有多快, 昨天的海湾有多热或多咸，氮的浓度是多少, 上次暴雨过后，氨和磷流入了它的水域. 索尔兹伯里，主要研究的海洋学研究副教授 海洋过程分析实验室, keeps an eye on 大湾 via a large yellow buoy that bobs about a kilometer off 杰克逊河口实验室, one of dozens in the Northeastern Regional Association of Coastal Ocean Observing Systems. 十多年了, 主要研究 has monitored changing conditions and health of the estuary by tracking a range of chemical and physical data that deliver good news as well as concerning trends. “大海湾在生态上很重要. The salt marshes and seagrass beds support a food chain that goes right up to seals,” says Salisbury. “But it’s an ecosystem that’s threatened by human pressures, so we want to monitor that.”

梅根·豪伊挖掘达勒姆

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大叶藻
Eelgrass may be the unsung hero of estuaries: The underwater flowering plant filters water of excess nutrients and contaminants, 稳定海床，为幼鱼提供食物和安全的庇护所, 螃蟹和龙虾. 难怪弗雷德·肖特毕生致力于此. 自1984年起，任研究教授 自然资源与海洋科学 他研究了大海湾的佐斯特拉码头，自2006年以来，他看到了它的衰落. “床不像以前那么厚、那么茂盛了,肖特说, 他指出，大海湾已经失去了60%的大叶藻. Nitrogen seeping into the estuary through sewage treatment plants or runoff is a culprit; it promotes the growth of light-blocking, 令人窒息的藻类. 但由于最近的法规减少了流入河口的氮, 大叶藻的命运开始转变. “我非常乐观，”肖特说.

联合国大学的大海湾研究得到了众多来源的支持, 包括国家科学基金会, 国家海洋和大气管理局, 美国国家航空航天局, 美国国立卫生研究院及其N.H. INBRE (IDeA生物医学研究卓越网络)计划, 新罕布什尔州农业实验站, 新罕布什尔海洋补助金, NH EPSCoR(为促进竞争性研究而建立的计划), 大自然保护协会, 东北沿海海洋观测系统协会, 联合国大学海洋科学与海洋工程学院, 主要研究人文中心和Piscataqua地区河口项目.