New tracer methods for revealing the hidden connections between ecosystems

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As humans modify the biosphere, many complex landscape-level problems are emerging. New methods are required to work on these large-scale problems. The aim of this project is to develop novel methods involving trace elements and isotopes, opening up new ways to explore the large-scale connections between terrestrial ecosystems and downstream estuaries. It is planned to use these new methods to test for unexpected positive benefits of floods for estuarine fisheries. The project is significant and innovative because it develops two fundamentally new types of tracer work, one at the sediment-animal level and one at the within-molecule level. The expected outcomes include a new toolkit for tracing the hidden connections between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.