Acquisition of Instrumentation for the Institute of Ecosystem Studies' Central Analytical Laboratory

生态系统研究所(IES)的凯瑟琳·C·韦瑟斯博士已获得拨款，通过更换大量使用和过时的仪器来升级IES的中央分析实验室。他们的制造商要么已经，要么很快将停止为这些仪器提供替换部件或支持。仪器包括碳-氮-硫分析仪、连续流动分析仪和电感耦合等离子体光谱仪。所有这些仪器都是为IES的核心生态研究项目生成数据的关键，所有这些仪器都由学生使用。许多单独的研究项目将通过使用这些工具得到支持。例如，这些仪器将用于生成数据：1)IES的两个长期生态研究(LTER)站点(哈伯德·布鲁克和巴尔的摩)的基线化学数据，这两个站点是NSF长期生态研究网络的组成部分。巴尔的摩生态系统研究是这个由近25个地点组成的网络中仅有的两个“城市”项目之一；2)哈德逊河研究小组，他们调查河流功能的许多方面，包括入侵的双壳类斑马贻贝对哈德逊生态系统的影响；3)一个项目，检验蚯蚓入侵北温带森林将对这些生态系统的养分保持和吸收产生重大后果的全球假说；4)研究昆虫去叶后森林生态系统中氮的损失以及氮的有效性在控制这种损失中的作用；5)一个项目，调查山毛榉树皮病入侵对卡茨基尔山生态系统功能的影响(其溪流是纽约市的饮用水来源)；6)和IES环境监测计划，该计划在哈德逊山谷一个800公顷的受保护位置产生了关于降水化学、空气质量、气象、干湿沉降、森林生长、森林养分循环和溪流化学的极其宝贵的记录。IES分析实验室是一个共享资源：平均80%的科学人员和大量的研究生、博士后助理、REU学生、合作者和访问者使用其设施分析从降水和穿透雨到土壤和咸水的生态样本。IES分析实验室目前每年对主要的无机和有机离子进行50,000到60,000次分析，包括对国家科学基金会(NSF)赞助的33个项目中的许多项目进行样本分析。这些项目包括来自独立专家小组的个人助理，以及独立专家小组以外的合作者，他们的从属关系差异很大，包括来自世界各国的同事。此外，IES分析实验室是由美国国立卫生研究院、美国农业部、环境保护局、安德鲁·W·梅隆基金会、玛丽·弗拉格勒·卡里慈善信托基金、哈德逊河基金会等资助的项目的主要分析设施。广泛的博士后、研究生、本科生(通过NSF本科生研究经验基金)的学生研究也在这个实验室进行。

Abstract0216161Weathers, Kathleen C.A grant has been awarded to Dr. Kathleen C. Weathers of the Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES) to upgrade IES's central Analytical Laboratory through the replacement of instruments that are both used heavily and outdated. Their manufacturers either have, or will soon cease to provide replacement parts or support for these instruments. The instruments are a carbon-nitrogen-sulfur analyzer, a continuous flow analyzer, and an inductively coupled plasma spectrometer. All of these instruments are critical for generating data for core ecological research programs at IES, and all are used by students. Many individual research projects will be supported through the use of these instruments. For example, the instruments will be used to generate data: 1) on the baseline chemistry for both of IES's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites (Hubbard Brook and Baltimore), which are components of the NSF's LTER network. The Baltimore Ecosystem Study is one of only two "urban" projects in this network of nearly 25 sites; 2) for the Hudson River research group, who investigate many aspects of the function of the River, including the effect of an invading bivalve, the zebra mussel, on the Hudson ecosystem; 3) for a project testing the global hypothesis that earthworm invasion of north temperate forests will have large consequences for nutrient retention and uptake in these ecosystems; 4) for research on the loss of nitrogen (N) from forest ecosystems after insect defoliation and the role of N availability in controlling that loss; 5) for a project investigating the effect of beech bark disease invasion on the functioning of the Catskill Mountain ecosystem (whose streams are the source of drinking water for New York City); 6) and for the IES Environmental Monitoring Program, which has generated an extremely valuable record of precipitation chemistry, air quality, meteorology, wet and dry deposition, forest growth, forest nutrient cycling, and stream chemistry at a protected 800 ha location in the Hudson Valley.The IES Analytical Laboratory is a shared resource: on average 80% of its scientific staff and a large number of graduate students, postdoctoral associates, REU students, collaborators and visitors use its facilities for analysis of ecological samples, ranging from precipitation and throughfall to soils and saline waters. The IES Analytical Laboratory currently performs between 50,000 and 60,000 analyses a year for major inorganic and organic ions, including sample analysis for many of the 33 (currently funded) National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored projects. These projects include PIs from IES, as well as collaborators outside of IES whose affiliations vary widely and include colleagues from countries throughout the world. In addition, the IES Analytical Laboratory serves as the primary analytical facility for projects funded by the National Institutes of Health, the US Department of Agriculture, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Hudson River Foundation, and others. Extensive postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate (through an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant) student research is also done in this laboratory.