Scientific Literacy Background: Part 2
Rachel Cooper
BIOL 293
Professor Wilkins
Old Dominion University
20 November 2022
Approximately two hundred and fifty million years ago, diatoms first appeared based on fossil records (Serodio; Lavaud, 2021). Scientifically, a diatom can be described as a single celled organism, in which these organisms have the ability to manufacture their own food; through a process we know as photosynthesis. When light conditions are up to standard, diatoms are known for their photosynthetic efficiency. These organisms can be found in mostly marine and freshwater ecosystems. Diatoms are a key component within these two ecosystems because these organisms are a major source for atmospheric oxygen; also, they are a primary food source for several microorganisms that live in such habitats as ponds (Sendra, 2022). Within the global carbon cycle, diatoms contribute by turning the CO2 in the atmosphere into organic carbon, while also generating oxygen during the process.
Focusing in on a more a specific species of diatoms; Phaeodactylum tricornutum; are microalgae that have just recently made an appearance within biotechnology. With these diatoms emerging, they have the ability to be led to metabolic engineering; as well as play a key role global climate change as well. Phaeodactylum tricornutum has the ability to change the cells’ shape can be stimulated by environmental conditions. About two years ago, the United States made history when almost every state went into a state of emergency from a worldwide pandemic. Coronavirus disease quickly spread throughout the world and changed its atmosphere forever. When undergoing scientific study during the time of COVID-19, it was proven that there was a drastic decrease in the microalgae’s cell density when exposed to water that contains face mask fragments (Sendra, 2022).
As stated before, COVID-19 has changed the world forever. While it as clear that because almost all industrial activities were non-existent during the U.S. lockdown, there was a reduction in pollution in various marine and freshwater ecosystems. Because many humans were not on the road as much, nor outside as much; that led to a significant decrease in harmful actions to the environment such as littering, air pollution, and water pollution. There was no doubt that these changes positively impacted both the aquatic life and the water quality. But unfortunately, once the lockdown was lifted; the harmful actions towards the earth came back into play. Personal Protective Equipment, better known as PPE, became a huge advancement in order to control the rise of COVID-19. It was not long before PPE, became an influence on littering and pollution; many face masks, gloves, etc. made its way to the streets and bodies of water around communities. The bodies of water and its aquatic life soon became affected by the wearing down of such fibers from PPE (Sendra, 2022). Although it has not been numerically proven that PPE has affected various marine ecosystems, scientists know that there is no doubt that such materials created a toxic environment for aquatic organisms.
As a result of the experiments that were conducted, it has been observed that there were more fragment fibers released into the marine ecosystem from commercial face masks, rather than fragment fibers from whole commercial face masks. Because there was such a high percentage of pollution within marine living environments, it was studied that Phaeodactylum tricornutum and other diatoms experienced several changes and disadvantages when it came to their photosynthetic abilities.
The experiment that took place drew emphasis, more specifically, on commercial surgical masks that happened to be sold in Spain from a local pharmacy. Scientists conducted two different simulations for this study. In one simulation scientists submerged one whole surgical face mask into marine water. While the other simulation consisted of scientists taking pieces or fragments of a surgical face mask and submerged them into marine water as well. The marine water that was used as a part of this experiment was gathered from a boat around the area of Cadziz, Spain;, and later filtered with 0.47 and 0.22 mm right before the experiment took place.
Within the experiment there were three “treatments” that were being studied, the controls, which is just the marine water, whole surgical masks, and the fragmented face masks. Using an acid-cleaned Erlenmeyer flask, that contained two liters of filtered marine water, the two different states of surgical face masks (whole and fragmented) were placed inside and analyzed.
Over the course of one month, a sum of ten samples were collected from each treatment. A volume of thirty milliliters were gathered for inorganic analysis, while there was a volume of fifteen milliliters of released fibers that were collected. Analysis was carried out by using Fourier transformed infrared spectroscopy, or FTIR, to observe the different layers that were discovered within the surgical face masks.
When discussing the results of the experiment, elements such as Iron, Copper, and Barium demonstrated a higher concentration within the blue layer of the surgical face mask rather than the white layer. However, the element Zinc, was only to be present within the white layer of the face mask. It was observed that there was not much of a contrast between the treatments of control and the whole and fragmented masks when submerged into marine water. But it was observed that there was a drastic contrast between elements when comparing the control treatment to the fragmented mask treatment.
When analyzing the effects that the treatments had against Phaeodacylum tricornutum, it was observed that there was not a decrease within the microalgae population when the whole face mask was submerged into marine water. On the contrary, when the fragmented pieces of face masks were submerged into marine water, the microalgae population showed a “dose-dependent response” when the water was less diluted. It was concluded that within this study, that fragmented surgical masks were the only treatment that had the ability to release elements such as Magnesium, Zinc, and Nickel into the marine ecosystem. The fragments were also the only treatment that led to a higher toxicity in the ecosystem for diatoms that were present in the water. By refraining from the amount of surgical face masks disposal, the diatoms; as well as the ecosystems that they live in such as marine water, can be protected and less polluted.