MRI: Acquisition of an Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS) to enable interdisciplinary research at Dartmouth and beyond

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An award is being made to Dartmouth College to support the acquisition of an Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer (IRMS) and associated equipment to measure the major stable isotopes of C, N, O, S, and H, both at natural abundance and enriched levels. The acquisition of this IRMS will make isotopic techniques more readily available to a wide range of departments at Dartmouth College and other New England colleges, which will ultimately increase faculty research productivity, undergraduate and graduate research capabilities, and the potential for interdisciplinary collaborations amongst a variety of departments and institutions. Advanced undergraduate students will have the opportunity to run the IRMS to promote STEM training and career advancement. The IRMS will be used for research that advances understanding of the global carbon cycle in the past, present, and future. Isotopic analyses have become standard in many fields of biological and geological research. Stable isotopes are used to test and make inferences about past climates and ancient carbon cycling, to understand the connections within aquatic and soil food webs, and to trace the movement of carbon, nitrogen, and contaminants from plants into soils and then into aquatic systems and the atmosphere. Researchers at Dartmouth are currently developing techniques to use carbon isotope analyses and respiration quotients to partition soil respiration into sources by specific compound classes. Such analyses have the potential to allow a more mechanistic understanding of respiration, the largest flux of carbon from the terrestrial biosphere to the atmosphere. Researchers are also working to define unique carbon and hydrogen isotopic signatures for methane produced during the breaking of carbon-phosphorus bonds to better understand methane sources in marine and lacustrine environments. Results from these research efforts will be published in peer-reviewed scientific journals, presented at scientific meetings, and used in public outreach activities.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.