PFRDG leads to $535K Florida Department of Environmental Protection Grant

Dimitrios Giarikos, Ph.D. is a Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics within the Halmos College of Arts & Sciences and has a dual role as the Director of Lab Operations for the College. Along with Amy C. Hirons, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Dr. Giarikos created the Study of Environmental Conservation through Leading-Edge Research (SECLER) Consortium producing articles and open source data related to supporting environmental restoration, conservation, and applying solutions to strengthen resiliency in the face of climate change and ecosystem degradation.

 

Tell me briefly about your grant funded project.

The idea of this project started a few years back, in 2019. Dr. Amy Hirons, who I have worked closely with on these projects, had heard about this big dredging project that was going to happen in Port Everglades. The port wanted to start bringing in larger cruise ships and Panamax container ships. Therefore, they would need to dredge to deepen it and widen the port to accommodate these ships.

When we heard of this proposal, we thought of some key questions, including where is all the sediment, tons and tons of the sediment, going to go. Additionally, as a chemist, I was concerned about how sediment tends to accumulate heavy metals like lead, arsenic, molybdenum, zinc and copper. Does the port sediment contain heavy metal concentrations that could be considered toxic to the ecology and marine environment and inhibit the sediment from being safely repurposed? Also, while excavating sediment there is expected to be a big sediment bloom traveling out of the port. Could this sediment transport and resuspend the potential heavy metals? If so, where would the heavy metals go and could marine flora and fauna and the nearby coral reefs be affected? In 2013, a similar dredging project started in the Port of Miami where the sediment traveled out of the port, covered the surrounding corals, and 50-90% of corals died.

Working with Andre Daniels from the United States Geological Survey (USGS), we were able to collect some sediment core samples from 4 different locations around the port and a control site. We were awarded a NSU President’s Faculty Research & Development Grant (PFRGD) in 2019 to test for heavy metals in the core samples as well as from surface sediment from the coral reef area outside of the port for comparison. The project was titled, “Heavy Metal Contamination in Port Everglades ‐ Preparing for Ecological Impacts”. We found 2 big contaminants in the sediment samples: arsenic and molybdenum. There was quite a bit of arsenic, which is very concerning to benthic organisms. After we analyzed the data, we said, okay, we need additional funding to continue the research and do a lot more work on this. We’re curious to see, not only what’s going on in the port, but also what’s going on outside the port, near the coral reef tracts.

 

At that time, we found out that Jose Lopez, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, was doing microbiome studies in the sediment inside and outside the port. So, he’s looking at bacteria in the sediment and we are looking at heavy metals. I said, how nice would that be to correlate these data? Are the types of bacteria different if we have a lot of arsenic or other heavy metals? These were just conversations we were having, right? So, after the conversations, we approached the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). We sent them some information. They were very, very interested, and decided to fund our research. Dr. Hirons, Dr. Lopez, and I were awarded a $535K FDEP grant with the project titled, “Heavy Metal Implications to Sediment Microbiome and Coral Reef Community”.

 

Over the past year with the FDEP grant, we set out a few goals. Number one, collect more cores in the port and look at the sediment composition compared with our data from 2019. Number two, Dr. Lopez was part of the team this time, so we wanted to look at the microbiome as well. Previously, he only looked at surface sediments of the microbiome initially outside the port and inside. But now we’re able to analyze the microbiome of the core samples. He can see if the bacteria are different deeper in the sediment as well, because when they dredge, they’re going to bring up 9-15 feet of sediment.

 

Additionally, we were able to place 6 sediment traps near the coral reefs. We positioned 3 traps and sonde sensors approximately 1 mile north of the port and 3 1 mile south of the port; what we want to do is over time accumulate the sediment that’s being suspended at the coral and analyze it for bacteria and heavy metals. The abiotic data collected by the sensors include temperature, salinity, pressure, pH, dissolved oxygen, and turbidity changes that are occurring.

 

Ultimately, we’re trying to protect the coral and the environment. The dredging project is important to the community and the county, but it is also important to make people aware of the sediment contaminants and the importance of monitoring it since there’s a very sensitive area right outside the port – the coral reefs.

 

Who’s working with you on this project?

In addition to Dr. Hirons and myself on the PFRDG, Radleigh Santos Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at NSU, helped us with the statistics. We also had a NSU geologist on board, Paul Baldauf Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, to help us with the geological/sediment type part. We had a lot of people on board, and we also had a master’s student that produced a thesis out of this as well, Laura White.

For the FDEP grant, Andre Daniels, Dr. Kyle Kelso, and Nancy DeWitt from USGS have continued to assist us. Dr. Amy Hirons is our oceanographer that studies the abiotic data and the microbiome data are studied by Dr. Jose Lopez.

 

What opportunities and or benefits does this grant bring to the NSU community?

Our research project utilizes the expertise of multiple faculty members as well as students. Currently, we have 3 undergraduate and 1 graduate student researchers gaining valuable experience and contributing with both the chemistry and marine biology aspects of the project. Additionally, Dr. Jose Lopez has a graduate student working on the project.

From our perspective, the major benefit of this research is in what we will learn and the impact of that information. It’s protecting the environment. It’s protecting the coral reefs and making sure people are aware of what’s going on, what’s in the sediment. For a dredging project, it is going to be important to know the contents of the sediment to help determine if it can be moved somewhere else and will it influence the environment, right? Perhaps whenever a dredging project occurs, maybe they’re going to start looking into this, so, even the stakeholders can take the necessary precautions while dredging. This can influence how port dredging projects are managed and considered nationally and even perhaps internationally.

 

How does this project connect with your other research projects at NSU?

Everything’s kind of connected in a way. I would probably say that about the past decade. For 10 years now I’ve been working a little bit more on environmental contaminants in general and more specifically, heavy metals. I’m an inorganic chemist so metals are my thing. We’ve done a lot of research and publications in the past decade on heavy metals and marine organisms. One thing that I did a while back was to look at algae and heavy metals. Back in the early 2000s to mid-2000s, there was a lot of interest in using algae to create biofuel because gasoline prices had skyrocketed. It was a hot thing, right? A project that I worked on at the time was looking at algae to extract the lipids (fats) from them and turn it into biofuel. Therefore, the big thing was, how can I manipulate the algae to turn on the fat cells? Basically, make them fatter? So, there’s a way to do that. You give them certain nutrients and they produce more lipids; we found that one species’ lipid content went up 50%. That’s a big deal and it’s very easy to grow. But something that I noticed when I was experimenting with the algae is that they tend to absorb metals from the water.

Once interest in the conversion of lipids to biofuel from algae went down because gas prices went down, I started wondering about heavy metals in algae. After 2 years of research, we were able to publish a paper (Giarikos, D. et al. (2021). Effects of nitrogen depletion on the biosorption capacities of Neochloris minuta and Neochloris alveolaris for five heavy metals. Applied Water Science, 11(39), 1 – 19.) on how certain algae absorb heavy metals and how you can use algae as a sponge. I took a species of algae, changed their composition to make them fatter, and examined the influence on absorption of heavy metals. We saw a change. Somehow, by changing the composition of the algae, you change how they absorb heavy metals. There’s a connection there somewhere. Thus, if you can find the specific algae that has a certain composition of lipids, carbohydrates, and proteins, you might be able to adjust which metals they absorb. Therefore, if you have lead in your water like in Flint, Michigan where they had a lead crisis in their drinking water, you can take a certain algae, put it in the water, and it’ll absorb the lead out of the water. Then you literally just scoop the algae out.

That’s where everything kind of started through that little algae project and heavy metals, and it kind of expanded when people found out what I was doing. They’re like, can you do this with marine mammals? Since then, we have looked at, let me see, where do I start? We’ve done fish. We’ve done seals. We’ve done whales. Egg shells including turtle egg shells and penguin egg shells. So, I’ve worked a lot with the Marine and Environmental Science Department at NSU. Dr. Hirons came up to me and said, “you know, I have all these whiskers of seals and sea lions and sea otters. What can we do with them? I’m like, what do you mean? Whiskers of sea otters up in Alaska? you know they’re threatened. Amy had accumulated and analyzed hundreds and hundreds of these whiskers, and if you think about it, what whiskers are, they are really hair, right? They are keratinized tissue. In humans we can do heavy metal testing of hair. If they want to see if you have mercury or lead contamination, they pluck a hair out of your head and test it. Amy and I had a few graduate students investigate heavy metals in the whiskers. No one had ever done whiskers and heavy metal testing before this. We were the first and we were able to get data to see that there were heavy metals in the whiskers. Very interesting, but here’s the big deal. Previously, to test a sea otter for heavy metals to determine any contamination, you would have to find a dead animal to analyze its tissue. The tissues that are typically analyzed are organs (liver, kidney, muscle). Now the animal does not have to be dead to perform testing since you can take a whisker. This is a lot less invasive.

We have also looked at baleen in whales. I don’t know if you know what baleen is, but it is basically a series of fringe plates in the mouths of whales that strain food from seawater. It’s like that little net that catches shrimp when they’re eating. You can cut some baleen and do heavy metal analysis on it as well. We’re doing things that people haven’t done before now. You know, I never thought I would get so involved in marine biology. But I have and it’s been very, very interesting.

Additionally, we are looking at persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs are Persistent Organic Pollutants, organic molecules that persist in the environment and come from insecticides, pesticides, flame retardants, etc. The hottest one right now is called PFAS. You’ll find it everywhere and these little organic molecules that stay in the environment for decades; they don’t break down. They can cause cancer and reproductive issues. And so, sediment and marine life have been the 2 main areas that we’re looking at for contaminants such as heavy metals and organic molecules.

 

How has NSU helped you pursue or achieve personal and professional goals you have set for yourself? NSU resources used?

You know what helped me a lot, the President’s Faculty Research & Development Grant (PFRDG). That’s what started many of these projects. Without that, we also wouldn’t have been able to get the 2019 Port Everglades sediment results and present that information to get FDEP funding.

We have also benefited in a lot of different aspects because we have used the Halmos College labs and equipment/instrumentation a lot. We have able to overcome budget, equipment, and lab space constraints to manage and conduct research. There was no way to do it without those resources.

 

What advice do you have for other grant seekers at NSU?

Be persistent. For the Port sediment project, I have been looking for grants since 2019. I have pursued 8 to 9 different grant opportunities, and I got 8 responses of “No” before I got a “Yes” from the last one. So, persistence, I think, is the best and biggest thing. I emailed so many program directors from different grant offices with 2-page summaries of what we wanted to do and explaining its importance. I would ask them if this was something that they would fund or if they knew of another agency that might be interested in funding it. During this process I was being bounced left and right and at some point, I almost gave up, but I did not. So, persistence, that’s the best thing that I can tell you. If you believe in the research that you’re doing and you believe it’s valuable, it will be valuable to someone as well. You just need to find that somebody.

 

What is the next Grant proposal or project on your agenda?

We are writing another grant with the FDEP. We have put in a proposal that includes 2 other researchers for next year. We have Abigail Renegar Ph.D., a research scientist in the Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, a coral expert. What we want to do is see how arsenic influences coral. She’s going to dose coral in the lab to see at what concentrations the coral might start feeling the effects of arsenic. And hopefully in the next few years we’re going to do more heavy metal testing with coral; for example, we know there’s molybdenum in the port sediment as well. So how does molybdenum affect coral? No one knows.

We also have Jason Gershman Ph.D., Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Mathematics, as a statistician to analyze all the data collected. With the addition of sediment traps and sensors monitoring ocean conditions inside and outside the port, we have a lot of data. We need to analyze the stats and compare our results from 2019 to determine if anything has changed. Therefore, our next project is the continuation of the port project and I’m really interested in working with Dr. Renegar and looking at arsenic dosing in the coral. Determining what concentrations will this influence the coral reef. We don’t know. I think that is probably one of the biggest things that I’m really looking forward to. We do have some new ideas that I don’t want to share yet, but maybe by next year I’ll be able to share some of that.

Additionally, FDEP has shown interest in determining the presence of viruses in the sediment core samples that we have collected. As a result, we preserved the sediment samples at -80°C to analyze in the future once we have additional funding because viral analysis is a lot more difficult and expensive than heavy metal analysis.