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In: Adam Bechle, Anne Moser, coastal erosion, Ginny Carlton, green breakwall, Liz Sutton, Max Morgan, nature-based design, R/V Neeskay, shipboard science workshop 2023, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

The calendar will soon flip to 2024. Our staff members are ready to tackle new projects in the coming months. Before they move more deeply into the new year, however, some staff members took a moment to retain the glow of their favorite 2023 project. Adam Bechle shared his thoughts. He’s our coastal engineering outreach specialist.

My favorite project for 2023 was helping organize a shipboard science workshop for educators in Milwaukee. Wisconsin Sea Grant’s Anne Moser and Ginny Carlton organized this annual professional learning opportunity through the Center for Great Lakes Literacy. This year, I was invited along to help bring a coastal engineering focus to the workshop.

The centerpiece of this workshop was two days aboard the R/V Neeskay, the research vessel of the UW-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Science. The Neeskay was an excellent platform from which to explore the coastal processes and engineering that shape Milwaukee’s lakefront.

Our itinerary was planned in close collaboration with the Neeskay’s Captain Max Morgan and the SFS’s Manager of Outreach Programs Liz Sutton. Our journey took us through three unique environments: the inner harbor, outer harbor and open Lake Michigan.

Adam Bechle instructs educators during the Shipboard Science Workshop in 2023. Image credit: Anne Moser

At each location, participants measured water quality, temperature and lake-bottom sediments. These observations helped us understand how waves, currents and other processes impact the three environments. We also got to see underwater video of the different habitats along the lakefront, which have been mapped on UW-Milwaukee’s Harbor Maps. This included a look at the species that inhabit Milwaukee’s “green breakwall,” which was designed to provide aquatic habitat benefits.

Back on land, we introduced the educators to a hands-on wave tank activity to take back home to their learners. In this activity, learners use a simple wave tank to explore how a sand beach responds to different waves and water levels. Learners then get to design, build and test a coastal structure to slow erosion. Using what they learned, several participants took a nature-based approach to their design.

This project was full of good things: A cohort of enthusiastic educators to work with; productive collaboration with great partners; two days of beautiful weather on Lake Michigan. I learned a lot about Milwaukee’s lakefront and left feeling energized about future work.

The post Shipboard Science Workshop earns “favorite project” status first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

Blog | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/blog/shipboard-science-workshop-earns-favorite-project-status/

Adam Bechle

On:
In: Cladophera, e. coli, Gyaneshwar Prasad, how many public beaches are in Wisconsin, nutrients and E. coli survival, persistent E.coli in beach sand, Sandra McLellan, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Ah, a summer day at the beach: cool water, warm sand and a beverage at hand. Wisconsin’s 180 public beaches are one of the state’s most-valued assets. They provide recreational opportunities, economic benefits for coastal communities and enhance the quality of life for residents.

Keeping those beaches safe for people to use is a continuing process. Beach managers use levels of Escherichia coli (E. coli), a bacterium from fecal pollution in water to know when to keep beaches open or closed. It’s far from a perfect indicator, however. E. coli can come from many sources, not all of it harmful to humans, and it can persist in the environment sometimes for weeks after it was introduced. In fact, sand can contain more E. coli than water. This can make a beach manager’s job complicated.

Microcosms containing E. coli samples were buried in sand for six weeks at several beaches in a related project by McLellan. Image credit: Natalie Rumball

Sea Grant-funded researchers Sandra McLellan and Gyaneshwar Prasad, both with the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, are building on previous research to find ways to decomplicate beach managers’ lives by determining what factors could limit long-term survival of E. coli on beaches.

McLellan, a professor in the School of Freshwater Sciences, explained the pros and cons of E. coli as an indicator.

“It’s a great indicator because it’s so easy for people to culture in the lab. It’s easy to count. Where it’s not a good indicator is it really doesn’t tell you anything about the source of what’s there. You don’t know where to direct your management strategies. Should I be chasing away the birds or should I be looking for a leaking sewage pipe nearby? And then to top it off, the other downside is the E. coli survives outside of a host. There’s prolonged survival in the sand and maybe even growth if enough nutrients are available,” McLellan said.

Once outside a human or animal gut, E. coli usually only live a couple of days. But under certain circumstances, it can live for week or even indefinitely in sand.

With graduate student Sophia Ward’s help, McLellan and Prasad are studying sand and water at six Lake Michigan beaches: two in Kenosha County, two in Manitowoc County and two in Milwaukee County. McLellan thinks this array of beaches will provide good representation of what goes on around the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Sandra McLellan interacts with high school students who are studying E. coli in a program she ran in partnership with the Sixteenth Street Clinic in Milwaukee in 2021. Image credit: Wisconsin Sea Grant

They are also testing for levels of nutrients such as carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and iron. In addition, they are conducting laboratory experiments to “starve” long-lived E. coli of these nutrients to see what drives their survival.

For the lab experiments, E. coli is mixed with sand and packed into small microcosms (miniature environments). McLellan describes them as four-inch diameter PVC pipes cut into four-inch sections. “We bury them in a bed of sand and keep them nice and moist. This helps us mimic what happens at the beach. The water can pass through, but the E. coli can’t escape from those little microcosms.”

The E. coli contain an extra piece of DNA that has a green fluorescent protein engineered in such a way that when the cell is starved, it lights up. The researchers then feed them with water containing varying amounts carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and iron. They remove the microcosms periodically and count the E. coli to see how many have survived and see if any display the fluorescent-green markers of starvation.

From preliminary experiments, McLellan suspects carbon might be the most important factor that allows E. coli to persist. In beach environments, carbon is often provided by decaying plant life, especially leaves and the nuisance algae, Cladophora.

Once this limiting factor is confirmed, McLellan and her team will develop a scorecard for the potential of long-term E. coli reservoirs for each beach. “By scoring how easily or how much E. coli is growing in the sand at these beaches, it can help beach managers direct their attention to what might be some probable sources at their beaches,” McLellan said. They are also taking nutrient levels into account.

“The scorecard is developing. I think once we understand the dynamic range of what these beaches look like, then we’ll have a better idea of what the scorecard will actually look like,” she added. The information will also be useful to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, which heads the Wisconsin beach monitoring program.

The post Persistent Pollution: Researchers investigate the key to E. coli bacteria survival in Lake Michigan beach sand and water first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/persistent-pollution-researchers-investigate-the-key-to-e-coli-bacteria-survival-in-lake-michigan-beach-sand-and-water/

Marie Zhuikov

On:
In: Dedire Peroff, National Science Foundation, Ryan Holifield, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, WaterMarks project

Deidre Peroff, Wisconsin Sea Grant’s social scientist outreach specialist, is part of a new project designed to foster community-engaged learning and environmental stewardship in Milwaukee. The $2.8-million undertaking, funded by the National Science Foundation, is led by Ryan Holifield, associate professor of geography at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The project will integrate art with STEM experiences (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math), along with geography, water management and social science. The goal is to develop collaborations among artists, scientists and communities to bring informal sustainability science learning to Milwaukee.

Named “WaterMarks,” the four-year effort will include activities such as neighborhood walks led by artists, scientists or community members where participants are encouraged to consider the characteristics, histories and ecosystems in their neighborhoods. The walks will be expanded upon through workshops that will explore water-related environmental challenges and proposed solutions. Art projects and a website are other ways learning will be encouraged.

An artist’s redition of what one of the “WaterMarks” public art installations would look like. Image credit: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee

Peroff will serve as a researcher, collecting and analyzing data, writing reports – and she will also facilitate public engagement in the project.

Collaborators include City as Living Laboratory and the COSI Center for Research and Evaluation. Contact Peroff for more information.

The post Sea Grant staffer is part of a $2.8 million NSF project first appeared on Wisconsin Sea Grant.

Original Article

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

News Releases | Wisconsin Sea Grant

https://www.seagrant.wisc.edu/news/sea-grant-staffer-is-part-of-a-2-8-million-nsf-project/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sea-grant-staffer-is-part-of-a-2-8-million-nsf-project

Marie Zhuikov