Impacts of Human-derived Pollutants on the Coastal Environment

 

Presenter:

Dr. Chris Reddy, WHOI Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry Department - Using Discarded Shotgun Shells to Study the Fate of Plastics in the Environment

 

Dr. John Stegeman, WHOI Biology Department  - How Animals Deal with the Sea of Chemicals

 

Date: May 2019

 

Lesson Plans and Background

• Winged Ambassadors – Ocean Literacy through the eyes of an Albatross.  A series of 5 lessons where students use real data from research tracking albatross migrations and ocean plastic pollution.  http://www.downloadwingedambassadors.org/
• Curriculum from Monterey Bay Aquarium  - Multiple plastics and contaminants lessons  (see pdfs) https://www.montereybayaquarium.org/education/classroom-resources/curriculum/grade#3-5
• Where’s the point?  What are causes, impacts, and solutions to polluted runoff?  This lesson is from the NOAA Ocean Service Education.  https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/education/lessons/wheres_the_point.html
• Trash shouldn’t splash was started in Falmouth, MA and they are developing a toolkit for other communities to implement.  The toolkit is still in progress but there is some useful background.  This is a collaboration between Sea Education Association, NOAA Marine Debris and Falmouth Water Stewards.  https://www.trashshouldntsplash.org/
• Mitigating microplastics teacher lesson plans.  This is a middle school curriculum about microplastics in our ocean developed by Oregon Sea Grant and Oregon State University.  The relevant NGSS and OLP are listed. See pdf or visit: https://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sgpubs/mitigating-microplastics-teacher-lesson-plans-curriculum
• Ocean Dumping Management – the marine protection, research and sanctuaries act (MPRSA), also known as the Ocean Dumping Act, regulates the transportation and dumping of any materials in ocean waters.  Learn more at:  https://www.epa.gov/ocean-dumping
• NOAA’s education page.  This has many resources!  https://www.noaa.gov/education
• Surf your watershed.  This EPA site has a rich collection of watershed information.  https://www.epa.gov/waterdata/surf-your-watershed
• Sustainable Materials Management.  This gives an overview of using and reusing materials more productively over their entire life cycles.  It has suggestions on new ways to reduce environmental impacts, conserve resources, and reduce costs.  https://www.epa.gov/smm
• Zebrafish in the classroom.  This is designed for undergraduates but it has techniques for raising zebrafish, experiments, and virtual experiments.  http://www.zfic.org/
• Why use zebrafish to study human health?  This blog by NIH is very informative.  https://irp.nih.gov/blog/post/2016/08/why-use-zebrafish-to-study-human-diseases
• This activity allows students to observe and sequence zebrafish developmental stages.  https://www.mdsg.umd.edu/lesson-plans/zebra-fish-model-muscle-development/observation-and-sequence-fish-developmental-stages

 

WHOI Resources

• WHOI Senior Scientist Chris Reddy’s web page  https://www.whoi.edu/scientist/creddy/home
• WHOI Senior Scientist John Stegman’s web page  https://www2.whoi.edu/site/stegemanlab/
• “Microplastics in the Ocean – Separating Fact from Fiction.”  2019 Oceanus magazine article.https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/whoi-viewpoint-microplastics-in-the-ocean-separating-fact-from-fiction/
• “Particles on the Move – Studying the spread of nanoplastics inside fish.” 2019 Oceanus magazine article.  https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/particles-on-the-move/
• “Tracking a snow globe of microplastics.” 2018 Oceanus magazine article.  https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/tracking-a-snow-globe-of-microplastics/
• “Sweat the small stuff – tiny particles prompt big investigation.” 2018 Oceanus magazine article.  https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/sweat-the-small-stuff/
• From macroplastic to microplastic short video.  https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/from-macroplastic-to-microplastic/
• “Tracking toxic chemicals in oil spills: Does out of sight mean into the air or into fish?”  2012 Oceanus magazine article.https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/tracking-toxic-chemicals-in-oil-spills/
• “Are pollutants disrupting marine ecosystems? A WHOI researcher stands up for the spineless invertebrates in coastal waters.” 2007 Oceanus magazine article.https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/are-pollutants-disrupting-marine-ecosystems/
• “Still toxic after all these years: does oil spilled in 1969 still have impacts on wildlife?  Ask a fiddler crab.”  2007 Oceanus magazine article on Chris Reddy’s work in West Falmouth.https://www.whoi.edu/oceanus/feature/still-toxic-after-all-these-years/

 

Deeper Exploration:  Chris Reddy and John Stegeman/ Papers in Scientific Journals

• Moret-Feruson, S., Law, K.L., Proskurowski, G., Murphy, E.K., Peacock, E.E., Reddy, C. M.  2010. The size, mass, and composition of plastic debris in the western North Atlantic Ocean.  Marine Pollution Bulletin. 60:1873-1878.
• Fritsch, E., Stegeman, J.J., Golstone, J.V., Nacci, D.E., Champlin, D., Jayaraman, S., Conno, R.E., Pessah, I.N.  2015. Expression and function of ryanodine receptor related pathways in PCB tolerant Atlantic killifish (Fundulus heteroclitus) from New Bedford Harbor, MA, USA. Aquatic Toxicology. 159:156-166.

 

NOAA Marine Debris - https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/

• Garbage patches - https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/movement/great-pacific-garbage-patch
• An educator’s guide to marine debris - https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/educators-guide-marine-debris
• Activities and Curricula - https://marinedebris.noaa.gov/activities-and-curricula

 

Games

• Trash Smash – Dispose of marine debris properly. https://games.noaa.gov/trash_smash/
• Estuaries  - nature’s water filters.  This animation does an excellent job of explaining runoff and the role estuaries play in filtering out pollutants.  There is also a game at the end. https://coast.noaa.gov/elearning/estuaries/?utm_source=SocialMedia&utm_medium=SocialMedia&utm_campaign=EstuaryLove
• Recycle City.  This EPA game explores how people reduce waste and use less energy.  https://www3.epa.gov/recyclecity/