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

9403610罗曼该奖项为马里兰大学霍恩角环境实验室保罗·罗曼博士的一名博士生的论文研究费用提供了部分支持。研究生Juanita Urban-Rich女士将与特罗姆索大学和挪威卑尔根大学的教员合作开展海洋学研究。她将参加挪威北部海域的一系列研究巡航，这些研究与挪威关于颗粒通量和北极水域碳循环的两个主要研究项目有关。这些将使她有机会为她的论文收集宝贵的数据，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，测量颗粒有机碳的化学成分和溶解到粪便颗粒和“海洋雪”中的溶解有机碳，“海洋雪”是有机和无机碎屑的聚集体。她希望确定这两种形式的碎屑是否在深海和沉积物腐烂时对它们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度、不同的组成，或者是颗粒转化为溶解有机碳的差异。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、污染物和痕量金属从上层海洋层到深海和沉积物的重要运输者。然而，这种贡献可能会有几条途径，而且会随着季节的变化而变化。除了对垂直通量的贡献外，它们也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了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.