With graduation day approaching, one Morse High School senior isn’t letting off the gas.

Over the weekend, Morse student Emma Gould won numerous awards at the Maine State Science Fair for her research on phytoplankton. Gould came in third in the Environmental Science Ocean & Coasts category, as well as a special REACH award for creativity and going above and beyond in her work. She was also awarded renewable scholarship of $25,000 to the University of New England.

“Her passion for these phytoplankton is unrelenting. Her concern for our ocean’s future and its smallest living things is foremost,” said Morse science teacher Julie LaRosa, who helped Gould with her project.

Gould said her interest in phytoplankton grew out of a semester she spent at Coastal Studies for Girls in Freeport during her sophomore year. The four month program provided a hands on experience with marine science, and it was there that Gould was first introduced to phytoplankton and their effect on the environment.

“By the end of the semester I was identifying phytoplankton. I just grew a weird bond with them, and I’ve always been very interested in them since then,” said Gould.

Building on that experience, Gould decided to conduct research on the effect of ocean acidification on Emiliania huxleyi, a species of coccolithophore.

“Basically, a coccolithophore is a phytoplankton that has about 30 hubcap shaped calcium-carbonate shells that surround the cell itself,” said Gould. “And when those shells on the coccolithophore are shed, they then sink down to the bottom of the ocean and are then transformed into ocean sediment, and that is good for long-term carbon storage for millions of years.

In addition, phytoplankton are a key source of oxygen.

To test what effect ocean acidification had on the coccolithophore, Gould set up an experiment with two tanks. The control tank created an environment of mild acidification, while a variable tank had a carbon dioxide introduced regularly to create extreme acidification.

“First we tested chlorophyll levels,” explained Gould. “Chlorophyll is in plants, which helps them photosynthesize, and also phytoplankton are photosynthesizers. We found that in our CO2 treatment tank there were less levels of Chlorophyll than in our control, which would show that in mildly acidic conditions there would be more cells.”

But in figuring out which tank of coccolithophore were producing more calcite, Gould ran into a problem. Due to the miniscule size of the phytoplankton, Gould was unable to find them even using a microscope at Bowdoin College. Ultimately, however, she was able to improvise. Realizing that calcite glows under a blacklight, Gould separated the organic and non-organic materials in the tanks and brought them to a dark room. Using the blacklight, she was able to find that the control tank had more calcite.

“Through my findings, I found that under mildly acidic conditions…the coccolithophore will stop photosynthesizing and actually focus more on calcite production because the shells are protecting them from the acidic conditions,” explained Gould. “And then under extreme acidification… they’re calcium-carbonate shells actually dissolve altogether.”

Since the Emiliania huxleyi faced with extreme acidification produce less calcite, they actually focus more on producing oxygen– until they die.

“Because there is no protection on that shell, they’re going to die off quickly because there’s nothing protecting them. So over the years, we’re going to see kind of a drop in calcite production and oxygen levels if we keep up at the rate we’re going,” said Gould.

Gould’s research reinforces concerns voiced by marine scientists that extreme ocean acidification could have a major impact on marine life and beyond.

For her part, Gould said that she wants to keep learning about marine science after high school.

“I’ve definitely always been interested in the sciences, I just never knew what I wanted to do until I went to CSG,” said Gould. “It was there that I sort of realized, wow, this is super interesting and I really want to spend more time on this. Ever since then I’ve kind of just been focused on marine science.”

Gould said she wants to dual major in marine science and film so she can make ocean conservation videos and raise awareness for issues like coral restoration.

nstrout@timesrecord.com