This award provides partial support for purchase of analytical equipment to be shared by six faculty and by student researchers, all of whom are participating in a multi-disciplinary Initiative in Ecology and Evolution program at the University. The equipment includes an elemental analyzer and autoanalyzer, a digestion block and two computers to control and acquire the data from the auto- and element analyzer. These will be used to analyze plant tissues, soils, soil extracts and water samples for total nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon and soil nitrate, ammonium, phosphate and silica. Research enabled by availability of the equipment include studies of ecosystem-level nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, impacts of herbivory on plants, stoichiometry in terrestrial ecosystems, limnology, paleoclimatology, and validation of remotely sensed biomass indexes. In addition to its use by this group, the equipment will be available to other researchers and graduate students working on various topics within the School of Biological Sciences, Geology and the School of Natural Resources and will be a key component of a new focus on ecology within the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
