U.S.-Vietnam Planning Visit: Collaborative Research on Nutrient Cycling and Productivity in the South China Sea

OISE-0746714(佐治亚，佐治亚理工学院)美国-越南计划访问：关于南部中国海洋营养循环和生产力的合作研究该奖项支持计划访问，使佐治亚理工学院生物系的Joseph Montoya教授能够会见芽庄海洋研究所的Nguyen Ngoc Lam博士和位于胡志明市的越南国立大学海洋、气象和水文学系主任La Thi Cang教授。他们的目标是建立一个合作项目，研究南中国海固氮生物(重氮菌)的分布、活性和多样性。氮是一种基本的植物营养物质，在限制许多海洋生态系统的初级生产力方面发挥着关键作用。海水中最丰富的氮形式是氮，只有固定氮的生物(重氮菌)才能将其用作生长的底物。最近的生物和生物地球化学研究表明，氮的固定在数量上是重要的，有时是支持各种热带和亚热带水域生物生产的新氮的主要来源。然而，重氮菌的多样性，它们的活性速率，以及控制氮气固定的因素都仍然知之甚少。南中国海是一个重要的经济水体，蕴藏着重要但压力巨大的渔业以及重要的矿产资源。海洋足够小，土地和水利用的人为变化可以通过河流系统传播，并在短时间尺度上对海洋特性产生影响。一项集中、协作的实地研究将对我们了解这一重要边缘海域的营养动态和生态系统对陆源强迫的响应做出重要贡献，并将为评估未来因土地利用变化而发生的营养循环变化提供重要的基准。佐治亚理工学院的研究人员和越南机构之间的利益有足够的重叠，这表明他们可以成功地开展拟议的活动，这种互动将使双方受益。访问还将为一名博士后、一名研究生和一名本科生提供支持。这一全球研究经验可能会为他们在整个研究生涯中继续与越南同事保持联系提供许多机会。

OISE-0746714 (Montoya, Georgia Institute of Technology)U.S.-Vietnam Planning Visit: Collaborative Research on Nutrient Cycling and Productivity in the South China SeaABSTRACTThis award supports a planning visit to enable Professor Joseph Montoya in the Biology Department at the Georgia Institute of Technology to meet with Dr. Nguyen Ngoc Lam at the Institute of Oceanography in Nha Trang and Professor La Thi Cang, Head of the Department of Oceanology, Meteorology, and Hydrology at the Vietnam National University in Ho Chi Minh City. Their goal is to establish a collaborative project to study the distribution, activity, and diversity of N2 fixing organisms (diazotrophs) in the South China Sea. Nitrogen is an essential plant nutrient and plays a critical role in limiting primary production in many marine ecosystems. The most abundant form of nitrogen present in seawater is N2, which can be used as a substrate for growth only by N2 fixing organisms (diazotrophs). Recently biological and biogeochemical studies have demonstrated that N2 fixation is a quantitatively important, and at times the dominant, source of new N supporting biological production in diverse tropical and subtropical waters. Nevertheless, the diversity of diazotrophic organisms, their rates of activity, and the factors controlling N2 fixation all remain poorly understood. The South China Sea is an economically important water body, containing important but severely stressed fisheries as well as significant mineral resources. The Sea is small enough that anthropogenic changes in land and water use can propagate through the river system and have an impact on oceanic properties on short time scales. A focused, collaborative field study will make an important contribution to our understanding of nutrient dynamics and ecosystem response to terrigenous forcings in this important marginal sea, and will provide an important benchmark for evaluating future changes in nutrient cycling in response to land use changes. There is sufficient overlap of interests between researchers at Georgia Tech and the Vietnamese Institutions to indicate that they can successfully pursue the activities proposed, and that the interaction will benefit both sides. The visit will also provide support for a postdoc, a graduate student and an undergraduate student. This global research experience will likely provide them many opportunities for continuing contacts with their Vietnamese colleagues throughout their research careers.