Carbon-nitrogen analyzer to assess elemental dynamics in the environment

碳（C）和氮（N）是生物圈中的关键元素，其丰度因人类活动而发生显着变化。虽然全球大气中碳的增加被广泛承认，但环境中的氮也增加了，这改变了初级生产者和异养微生物可用的C和N的平衡。这两种元素与其他重要的生态地球化学营养素（如磷和铁）的平衡也强烈影响水生生态系统中的低营养水平。例如，环境中碳和氮的相对可获得性的变化可以改变初级生产者的群落组成，并通过改变次级消费者的食物数量和质量而通过食物网级联。虽然包括C和N在内的多种化学元素的相对可用性不断变化，但由于食物网相互作用的复杂性以及许多这些影响的背景依赖性，了解这些变化的生态后果仍然是生态系统生态学家和生态化学家面临的重要挑战。研究C和N循环需要测量这些元素在水，气体和固体形式，因为它们通过水生和陆地生态系统的流量。拟议的元素分析仪是中央我的研究计划，检查C和N在环境中的可用性，它们与其他元素的关系，以及它们的生态重要性。申请的资金用于购买一台碳氮分析仪，用于测量干燥有机样品中的碳和氮，包括藻类、微生物、植物和自然环境中的其他有机物。有了这个，我将检查C和N在环境中的目的是了解营养物质的生态效应对湖泊和河流的食物网在安大略。这些数据对于了解低营养级食物网动态、湖泊长期监测以及这些重要环境的生态系统功能至关重要。因此，这种设备对于更好和更知情地管理我们的水产资源以应对人类对生态系统健康的威胁至关重要。

Carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) are key elements in the biosphere whose abundance has been dramatically altered by human activities. While global increases in atmospheric C are widely acknowledged, N has also increased in the environment, which has altered the balance of C and N available for primary producers and heterotrophic microbes. The balance of these two elements with other biogeochemically important nutrients, such as phosphorus and iron, also strongly affects lower trophic levels in aquatic ecosystems. For example, changes to the relative availability of C and N in the environment can alter community composition of primary producers and cascade through the food web by altering food quantity and quality for secondary consumers. While the changing relative availability of multiple chemical elements, including C and N, is increasingly well documented, understanding the ecological consequences of these changes remains an important challenge to ecosystem ecologists and biogeochemists due to the complexity of food web interactions and the context dependency of many of these effects. Studying C and N cycling requires measuring these elements in aqueous, gas, and solid forms as they flux through both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. The proposed elemental analyzer is central to my research program that examines C and N availability in the environment, their relationship to other elements, and their ecological importance. Funding is requested for the purchase of a C-N analyzer, which is used to measure C and N in dried organic samples including algae, microbes, plants and other organic matter from the natural environment. With this, I will examine C and N in the environment with an aim of understanding the ecological effects of nutrients on food webs of lakes and rivers in Ontario. These data are central to understanding food web dynamics of lower trophic levels, long-term monitoring of lakes, and ecosystem function of these important environments. This equipment is thus central to better and more informed management of our aquatic resources in response to human threats to ecosystem health.