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

达特茅斯学院获得了一项奖励，以支持购买同位素比质谱仪（IRMS）和相关设备，以测量C、N、O、S和H的主要稳定同位素，包括自然丰度和富集水平。这台IRMS的收购将使同位素技术更容易用于达特茅斯学院和其他新英格兰学院的广泛部门，这将最终提高教师的研究效率，本科生和研究生的研究能力，以及各种部门和机构之间跨学科合作的潜力。高级本科生将有机会运行IRMS，以促进STEM培训和职业发展。IRMS将用于促进对过去、现在和未来全球碳循环的理解的研究。同位素分析已成为许多生物和地质研究领域的标准。稳定同位素用于测试和推断过去的气候和古代碳循环，以了解水生和土壤食物网之间的联系，并追踪碳、氮和污染物从植物进入土壤，然后进入水生系统和大气的运动。达特茅斯学院的研究人员目前正在开发一种技术，利用碳同位素分析和呼吸商将土壤呼吸按特定的化合物类别划分为不同的来源。这样的分析有可能使人们对呼吸有更机械的了解，呼吸是陆地生物圈向大气中最大的碳通量。研究人员还在努力定义碳磷键断裂过程中产生的甲烷的独特碳和氢同位素特征，以更好地了解海洋和湖泊环境中的甲烷来源。这些研究工作的结果将发表在同行评议的科学期刊上，在科学会议上提出，并用于公共宣传活动。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.