Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Advances In Amino Acid Analysis For Marine Related Matrices And Its Application To Coastal Shelf Settings In The Canadian Arctic, Rachel M. Mcmahon

OES Theses and Dissertations

Amino acids comprise up to 50% of organic matter in cellular material and are a major fraction of oceanic organic carbon. Amino acids are also considered highly labile during organic matter recycling, making them useful proxies for organic carbon cycling. Nevertheless, analysis of individual amino acids has been burdened by lengthy derivatization and complex analysis since the 1950s. In this thesis, I describe the modification of advanced analytical techniques, developed in the biomedical field, for analysis of marine matrices which allow the determination of at least 40 amino acids without the need for lengthy sample preparation and derivatization, twice the …

Plastics And Microplastics As Vectors For Bacteria And Human Pathogens, Amanda Lee Laverty

OES Theses and Dissertations

Since plastics degrade very slowly, they remain in the environment on much longer timescales than most natural substrates and can thus provide a novel habitat for colonization by bacterial communities. The full spectrum of relationships between plastics and bacteria, however, is little understood. The objective of this study was to examine marine plastic pollution as a substrate for bacteria, with particular focus on Vibrio spp., including the human pathogens, Vibrio cholerae, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, and Vibrio vulnificus.

Colonization experiments were set up in a tributary of the lower Chesapeake Bay to follow Vibrio spp. colonization and …