Acquisition of Instrumentation to Enhance Faculty-Student Biogeoscience Research: Linking Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems Through Element Analysis

该合同用于采购以下用于生物科学研究的仪器：燃烧元素分析仪、现有流动注射分析仪的自动采样器/稀释器升级以及水净化系统。这些仪器将直接支持圣奥拉夫的各种生态系统研究，同时扩大正规课程和独立研究中生态科学和生态学本科生的研究培训机会。研究的广泛目标是通过元素分析将水生和陆地生态系统联系起来。购买燃烧元素分析仪将有助于分析沉积物有机物的C/N比，有助于区分陆源和水生来源。元素分析仪与升级的自动取样器/稀释器相结合，将使明尼苏达州和马尼托巴的工作得以继续，并将这项工作扩大到包括在蒙古西部收集的沉积物。第二组项目将侧重于整合北方加州河流生态系统中的食物网结构、营养螺旋和生态化学计量理论。生态化学计量学理论为研究食物网中营养盐通量以及食物网结构对多种营养盐运输和滞留的影响提供了一个框架。这项研究需要能够测量多种材料的C，N和P浓度，包括水样和藻类，植物和动物的组织。新的工具将大大提高收集必要数据的能力，以探索和更好地了解这些进程。这些仪器将被大学本科生广泛使用，该学院在提供研究型课程和通过50多名学生的积极夏季研究计划促进学生与教师的研究合作方面有着悠久的历史。 这两个PI都与全国各地的本科生和其他机构的研究人员进行了广泛的合作。 该研究广泛适用于社会，并与重要问题有关，如放牧方式和气候变化对河流，湖泊和陆地生态系统的生物地球化学和群落生态学的影响。

This award is for the acquisition of the following instrumentation for biogeoscience research: a combustion element analyzer, an automated sampler/dilutor upgrade for an existing flow injection analyzer, and a water purification system. These instruments will directly support a variety of ecosystem studies at St. Olaf and at the same time expand opportunities for research training of undergraduates in the biogeosciences and ecology in formal courses and independent research. The broad goal of the research is to link aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems through element analysis. Acquisition of the combustion element analyzer will allow for analysis of C/N ratios of sediment organic matter, helping to distinguish terrestrial vs. aquatic sources. The element analyzer in combination with the upgraded automated sampler/dilutor will allow for continued work in Minnesota and Manitoba and expansion of this work to include sediments collected in western Mongolia. A second set of projects will focus on integrating the theory on food web structure, nutrient spiraling and ecological stoichiometry in stream ecosystems of northern California. Ecologists have long been interested in the influence of communities of organisms on fluxes of C, N, and P. Ecological stoichiometry theory provides a framework for the study of nutrient fluxes through food webs and the influence of food web structure on transport and retention of multiple nutrients. This research requires the ability to measure C, N, and P concentrations of multiple materials, including water samples and tissues of algae, plants and animals. The new instruments will significantly increase capacity to collect data necessary to explore and better understand these processes. These instruments will be used extensively by undergrads at the college, which has a long history of offering research-based classes and of fostering student-faculty research collaborations through an active summer research program with over 50 students. Both PIs have collaborated extensively with undergraduates and with researchers at other institutions across the country. The research is broadly applicable to society and is relevant to important questions such as the effects of changes in grazing practices and climate change on biogeochemistry and community ecology of stream, lake, and terrestrial ecosystems.