Analytical Instrumentation: Mass Spectrometer for the Analysis of Carbon and Nitrogen Isotopic Ratios

质谱是一种高度复杂的工具，它对我们了解海洋中的元素流动和生物速率过程做出了巨大贡献。该合同将允许获得带有ANCAautosampler的Europa 20/20同位素比例质谱仪，用于分析来自水生和海洋系统样品中的15N和13C富集。它将被安置在乔治亚大学海洋科学系的黛博拉·布朗克博士的实验室里；她将负责它的维护，并监督和协调样品的处理。这台仪器将成为佐治亚大学、萨佩洛岛海洋研究所和斯基德韦海洋学研究所其他研究人员的宝贵资源。这些机构的教师和研究人员在许多不同领域都有研究项目，这些领域迫切需要或将受益于使用质谱仪。这些项目包括研究无机氮和有机氮吸收之间的关系，在切萨皮克湾和乔治亚州两条沿海河流的两个陆地边缘生态系统研究地点对比溶解有机氮的组成和利用，作为美国JGOFS的一部分，改进对罗斯海新浮游植物和再生浮游植物产量的估计。确定了河流溶解有机物的氮和碳含量，以及这些物质在向沿海地区移动时的运输和化学转化，开发了用13C示踪剂量化真菌生产力的方法，确定了反硝化和底栖生物光合作用的速率，并确定了东南大陆架的氮预算。该仪器还将用于佐治亚大学正在开发的关于示踪剂理论和稳定同位素技术的半年度课程。佐治亚大学提供了与联邦政府同等的资助。

Bronk 9617753 Mass spectroscopy is a highly sophisticated tool which has contributed greatly to our knowledge of elemental flows and biological rate processes in the ocean. This award will allow the acquisition of a Europa 20/20 isotope ratio mass spectrometer with an ANCAautosampler to analyze 15N and 13C enrichments in samples from aquatic and marine systems. It will be housed in the laboratory of Dr. Deborah Bronk at the University of Georgia's Department of Marine Sciences; she will oversee its maintenance, and supervise and coordinate the processing of samples. This instrument will serve as a valuable resource for other researchers at the University of Georgia, the Marine Institute on Sapelo Island, and the Skidaway Institute of Oceanography. Faculty and researchers at these institutions have research projects in a number of different areas which desperately need or would benefit from access to the mass spectrometer. These projects include studies on the relationship between inorganic and organic nitrogen uptake, contrasting the composition and utilization of dissolved organic nitrogen at two Land Margin Ecosystem Research sites in Chesapeake Bay and two coastal rivers of Georgia, refining estimates of new and regenerated phytoplankton production in the Ross Sea as part of U.S. JGOFS, defining the nitrogen and carbon content of riverine dissolved organic matter and the transport and chemical transformations of this material as it moves to the coastal zone, developing methods to quantify fungal productivity with 13C tracers, determining rates of denitrification and benthic photosynthesis, and defining nitrogen budgets on the Southeastern continental shelf. This instrument will also be used in a semiannual course under development at the University of Georgia on tracer theories and stable isotope techniques. The University of Georgia is providing an equal match to the federal support.