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

该合同将支持购买稳定同位素质谱仪和相关的外围仪器，以促进马里兰州大学的广泛的极地和海洋研究。环境科学中心。这种稳定同位素质谱仪将有利于在切萨皮克湾和北极等其他目标生态系统正在进行的、拟议的和未来的项目，北极的机构研究能力现已达到临界值。拟议的仪器配置将提供一些独特的能力，包括基于同位素的地下水硝酸盐来源测定，同时分析生物活性痕量金属的形态（例如，铬和硒）;通过测量特定化合物的稳定同位素比率以及对有机组织进行大量分析，绘制食物网碳和氮加工图;使用稳定同位素和微量金属分布场记录鱼类在不同水体中的洄游模式。支持本科生研究的现有多学科项目，包括马里兰州圣玛丽学院的合作研究，一个由马里兰州国家海洋赠款管理的积极的NSF支持的REU项目，以及切萨皮克生物实验室游客中心的教师培训活动将被扩大，以提供增强的研究和教育机会，利用这种新的仪器。改进后的实验室能力还将为马里兰州系统大学四个校区的海洋河口环境科学研究生课程的研究生提供服务。

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.