Acquisition of Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometry Instrumentation for High Latitude and Marine Applications at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science

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This award will support acquisition of a stable isotope mass spectrometer and associated peripheral instrumentation to facilitate a wide range of polar and marine research at the University of Maryland?s Center for Environmental Science. This stable isotope mass spectrometer will benefit ongoing, proposed and future projects in the Chesapeake Bay and other target ecosystems such as the Arctic, where institutional research capacity has now reached critical thresholds. A number of unique capabilities will become available with the proposed instrument configuration, including isotope-based determinations of nitrate sources in groundwater with concurrent analyses of the speciation of biologically active trace metals (e.g., chromium and selenium); mapping food web carbon and nitrogen processing through measurements of compound-specific stable isotope ratios as well as bulk analyses of organic tissues; and documenting the migratory patterns of fish through different water masses using combined stable isotope and trace metal distribution fields. Existing multidisciplinary programs supporting undergraduate research, including cooperative research at St. Mary's College of Maryland, an active NSF- supported REU program that is managed by Maryland State Sea Grant, and teacher training activities at the Chesapeake Biological Laboratory Visitor Center will be enlarged to provide enhanced research and educational opportunities to take advantage of this new instrumentation. The improved laboratory capabilities will also serve graduate students at four campuses of the University of Maryland System enrolled in the Marine Estuarine Environmental Sciences graduate program.