Collaborative Research: High-precision triple-isotopologue analysis of N2

自20世纪初以来，人类用于农业和工业的固氮量增加了10倍。这种对氮循环的深刻扰动揭示了全球氮循环和生物圈之间的联系比以前认为的要复杂得多。为了在全球范围内提高对这些联系的理解，研究人员将开发一种新的氮循环示踪剂，利用14N14N、14N15N和15N15N的自然共变。这三种氮气同位素组成了一种示踪剂，对改变N-N键的过程（如固氮和氮气生成）非常敏感。通过结合实验室测量、实地测量和涉及微生物的实验，研究人员将描述这些物种与大气和海洋环境相关的基本生物地球化学特征。这些测量将测试N2三重同位素分析是否可以更广泛地应用于局部和全球尺度上的氮循环。科学发现将在会议发言和同行评议的出版物中传播。该项目还将通过培训一名来自传统上代表性不足群体的女研究生，将研究和教育结合起来，支持她参加生物地球化学短期课程的培训。此外，还将与广受欢迎的YouTube频道PHD TV合作制作一系列关于氮的动画短片。他们将强调氮在社会中发挥的作用比通常未被认识到的更大，将人类历史，生物地球化学和气候科学编织在一起，以平易近人的漫画动画媒介，这已经成为博士电视的标志。

Nitrogen fixation by humans, for agricultural and industrial use, has increased tenfold since the beginning of the 20th century. This profound perturbation to the nitrogen cycle has revealed that the links between the global nitrogen cycle and the biosphere are more complex than previously thought. To improve the understanding of these links at the global scale, investigators will develop a new tracer for the nitrogen cycle that exploits natural co-variations in 14N14N, 14N15N, and 15N15N. These three isotopologues of N2 comprise a tracer that is fundamentally sensitive to processes that alter N-N bonds such as nitrogen fixation and N2 production. Through a combination of laboratory measurements, field measurements, and experiments involving microbes, investigators will characterize the basic biogeochemistry of these species that is relevant to atmospheric and oceanic settings. These measurements will test whether N2 triple-isotopologue analysis can be applied more broadly to constrain nitrogen cycling on local and global scales. The scientific findings will be disseminated during conference presentations and in peer-reviewed publications. This project will also integrate research and education through the training of a female graduate student from a traditionally underrepresented group, supporting her training in a biogeochemistry short course. In addition, a series of short animations about nitrogen will be produced in partnership with the popular PHD TV YouTube channel. They will highlight how nitrogen has played a larger role in society than is often unrecognized, weaving together human history, biogeochemistry, and climate science in an approachable comic-animation medium that has become the hallmark of PHD TV.