U.S.-Norway Program: Dissertation Research in Biological Oceanography

9403610 Roman该奖项为马里兰大学霍恩角环境实验室Paul Roman博士的博士生提供部分论文研究费用支持。研究生Juanita Urban-Rich女士将与特罗姆瑟大学和挪威卑尔根大学的教员合作进行海洋学研究。她将参加挪威北部的一系列研究巡航，与挪威两个主要的研究项目有关，即北极水域的颗粒通量和碳循环。这将使她有机会为她的论文研究收集宝贵的数据，研究浮游动物粪便颗粒对不同地理位置的颗粒通量和碳循环的贡献。她将进行实验，测量粪便颗粒和“海洋雪”（有机和无机碎屑的集合）中颗粒有机碳的化学成分和溶解性有机碳的溶解性。她希望确定这两种形式的碎屑在腐烂时是否对深海水域和沉积物贡献了显著不同形式的有机碳，这可能是由于不同的衰变速率、不同的成分，或者颗粒向溶解有机碳转化的差异。这些数据将与她在其他赞助下在阿拉伯海收集的数据进行比较。大型浮游动物粪便颗粒和海洋雪是有机碳以及营养物质、污染物和微量金属从海洋上层向深水和沉积物的重要运输载体。然而，这种贡献可以有几种途径，并且随季节而变化。除了对垂直通量的贡献外，它们还是其他动物的重要食物来源。增加对这些有机颗粒的组成和命运的了解将有助于改进模型和理解全球生物地球化学循环。

9403610 Roman This award provides partial support for dissertation research expenses of a PhD student of Dr. Paul Roman of the Horn Point Environmental Laboratory of the University of Maryland. The graduate student, Ms. Juanita Urban-Rich, will carry out oceanographic research in cooperation with faculty of the University of Tromso and the University of Bergen, Norway. She will participate in a series of research cruises off Northern Norway related to two major Norwegian research programs on particle flux and the carbon cycle in Arctic waters. These will give her the opportunity to collect invaluable data for her dissertation research on the contribution made by zooplankton fecal pellets to particle flux and carbon cycles in different geographical locations. She will carry out experiments to measure the chemical composition and dissolution of particulate organic carbon to dissolved organic carbon from fecal pellets and "marine snow", an aggregate of organic and inorganic detritus. She hopes to determine whether the two forms of detritus contribute significantly different forms of organic carbon to abyssal waters and sediments as they decay, due possibly to different decay rates, different composition, or differences in the transformation of particulate to dissolved organic carbon. These data will be compared with data she will collect in the Arabian Sea under other sponsorship. Macrozooplankton fecal pellets and marine snow are important transporters of organic carbon as well as nutrients, pollutants and trace metals from the upper ocean layers to deep water and the sediments. However this contribution can take several paths and it varies seasonally. In addition to this contribution to vertical flux, they are an important food source for other animals. Increased knowledge of the composition and fate of these organic particles will contribute to improved models and understanding of global biogeochemical cycles.