Dinoflagellates, are organisms important for the microbial loop in the ocean and help carry large amounts of energy into planktonic food webs. Gymnodinium, a genus of dinoflagellates are highly studied for their ability to produce toxins that are causing Red Tides. Red Tides are produced when Gymnodinium and other types of Dinoflagellates are exposed to urban runoff that ends up in the ocean. The purpose of this project is to expose Gymnodinium Sp. to different concentrations of burnt cigarette butts and ashes and to use a Hemocytometer to quantify the changes in the growth rate of Gymnodinium upon exposure to burnt cigarette butts and ashes.

Gymnodinium exposed to certain pollutants in the ocean over-reproduce causing the Red Tides, subsequent to burnt cigarette ash and butt exposure Gymnodinium will increase in growth rate.

In this project, a 5 Cigarette Smoke Machine was created to burn several cigarettes in a controlled manner ensuring that the smoke goes up the fume hood. The cigarette ashes will be coilected, butts will be cut, and stored. Gymnodinium culture was kept in a large container with 275ml of Alga-Gro® Seawater Medium. Each trial had 5 Petri dishes with 10mL of seawater with Gymnodinium. One petri dish was the control with only seawater and Gymnodinium. The other 4 Petri dishes had a combination of cigarette ashes and cut up butts, at different concentrations: 0.0249, 0.0489, 0.096g, and 0.1929. All Petri dishes were under a 64W LED light 16 inches from the base of the table. The cigarettes were all added at the same time. In a period of 5 days, every other day, the Petri dishes went through hemocytometer, spectrophotometer testing, and pH testing.

The control group suggested that at normal conditions Gymnodinium increase in growth rate throughout time, with an average growth rate of 128 Gymnodinium per day, average pH level of 8.01, and an average absorption of 0.806833. The average of the three highest exposure groups had an average growth rate of 97.7644 Gymnodinium per day, average pH level of 8.5972, and an average absorption of 0.6457. The data is not statistically significant to conclude that cigarettes change the growth rate of Gymnodinium as compared with ANOVA and the post- hoc Turkey HSD; however results show that Gymnodinium who were exposed to 0.0489, 0.096g, and 0.192g of cigarettes had a lower growth rate each day than the control group and the group exposed to 0.024g of cigarettes, which indicates that there may be a correlation between high concentrations of cigarette ashes and butts and their decreased growth rate.

For future research, it would be beneficial to making cigarette butts smaller and almost powder like to expose Gymnodinium to an even concentration of ashes and butts, to using a machine to count the number of Gymnodinium that is more precise and efficient than a hemocytometer, and to test other types of waste that are part of urban runoff such as sunscreen.