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

布朗克9617753质谱学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。该合同将允许采购一台配备ANCAA型自动取样器的Europa 20/20同位素比质谱仪，用于分析水生和海洋系统样品中的15N和13C丰度。它将被安置在佐治亚大学海洋科学系黛博拉·布朗克博士的实验室里；她将监督它的维护，并监督和协调样品的处理。该仪器将为佐治亚大学、萨佩洛岛海洋研究所和斯基德韦海洋研究所的其他研究人员提供宝贵的资源。这些机构的教职员工和研究人员在许多不同的领域都有研究项目，这些领域迫切需要或将受益于质谱仪的使用。这些项目包括研究无机氮和有机氮的吸收之间的关系，比较切萨皮克湾的两个陆地边缘生态系统研究点和佐治亚州沿海的两条河流的溶解有机氮的组成和利用，完善作为美国联合全球海洋观测系统一部分的罗斯海新的和再生的浮游植物生产量的估计，确定河流溶解有机物质的氮和碳含量以及这种物质向沿海地区移动时的输送和化学变化，开发使用13C示踪剂量化真菌生产力的方法，测定反硝化和海底光合作用的速率，并确定东南大陆架的氮收支。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一次的课程。佐治亚大学正在提供与联邦政府同等的支持。

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.