New York State Great Lakes Protection Fund Small Grants 2003

Four proposals were given awards of up to $10,000 for a total of $39,156 in this year's NY Great Lakes Protection Fund Small Grants cycle. The program is administered by the Great Lakes Research Consortium, in cooperation with the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and the New York Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council, with earnings that accrue from New York State’s investment in the regional Great Lakes Protection Fund. The protection fund (NYGLPF) small grants program was developed to provide “seed” money for new, cooperative approaches to researching and protecting the environmental quality of the Great Lakes. The successful projects were:

A Pilot Study to Map Trace Levels of Mercury in Fish Otoliths Using Synchrotron-Source Capillary Microbeam Techniques

Karin Limburg (SUNY-ESF) with Donald Bilderback and Ron Huang (Cornell University) collaborating. Mercury bioaccumulation is a widespread problem in the Great Lakes basin, and these methods will yield new insights into exposure histories in fish. For more information, contact Dr. Limburg limburg@esf.edu

Pharmaceutical-Derived Pollutant Loading and Bioaccumulation to Benthic Organisms of the Great Lakes

Siddhartha Mitra (Binghamton University) with Peter Landrum (Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory) collaborating. The eventual goal of the PI is to use these funds to initiate his research program comprehensively investigating the fate and transport of PPCPs throughout the Great Lakes. For more information, contact Dr. Mitra- smitra@binghamton.edu

What Makes Algae Toxic in a Bloom? Physiological Triggers of Toxin in Harmful Algal Blooms

Michael Twiss (Clarkson University) with Greg Boyer (SUNY ESF) collaborating. This work has the potential to make a significant contribution to advancing our fundamental knowledge of how HABs function and thus, increase our confidence in making ecological forecasts involving the risks to water quality resulting from HABs. For more information, contact Dr. Twiss- mtwiss@clarkson.edu

Aquatic-terrestrial Metal Flux: Assessing Emerging Aquatic Insects as Contaminant Vectors in the Buffalo River Watershed, a New York Area of Concern

Christopher Pennuto (Buffalo State College) with Wayne Gall (NYS Department of Health) collaborating. This project will address ecological consequences of contaminant exposure through poorly understood transmission pathways. It will provide new data for the Buffalo River AOC monitoring program and will contribute to our understanding of the linkages between aquatic populations and terrestrial environments. For more information, contact Dr. Pennuto - pennutcm@buffalostate.edu