A grant has been awarded to the Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES) under the direction of Dr. Kathleen C. Weathers for upgrading analytical instrumentation and information infrastructure in the Institute of Ecosystem Studies' (IES) Analytical Laboratory (AL). These funds will improve significantly the analytical capabilities in the IES AL by replacing three instruments that are used heavily and outdated. Two new pieces of equipment will be added thereby enhancing IES's analytical capability. The old instruments are no longer supported sufficiently by their manufacturers. Those to be replaced include an ion chromatograph, a continuous flow analyzer, and total organic-inorganic carbon analyzer. The new equipment includes an automatic titrator and microwave digester. Information infrastructure improvements include a software data management system (SDMS) and supporting hardware. All of these upgrades and instruments are critical for generating high-quality data for core ecological research programs at IES, and all are used by students.
The core research programs at IES address fundamental questions in ecosystem science, such as: how do invasive species affect biogeochemical cycles and cycling in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, what is the fate of ancient carbon in aquatic ecosystems, how is nitrogen cycling impacted by human accelerated environmental change, what are the abiotic and biotic drivers of nutrient cycling? Two long-term ecological research programs rely on these facilities for chemical analyses as well (Baltimore and Hubbard Brook).
This award provides valuable support to the IES AL, which is a shared resource: on average 80% of our scientific staff and a large number of graduate students, postdoctoral associates, undergraduate research students, collaborators and visitors use its facilities for analysis of ecological samples, ranging from precipitation and throughfall to soils and saline waters. The AL is the nexus for much of the research activity at IES. Steady demand has put pressure on the facility to process accurately, rapidly and as inexpensively as possible samples from a wide variety of ecosystems whose chemical concentrations vary by several orders-of-magnitude. The IES AL currently performs approximately 50,000 analyses a year for major inorganic and organic ions, including sample analysis for many of the 21 (currently funded) National Science Foundation (NSF)-sponsored projects. These projects include PIs from IES, as well as students and collaborators outside. In addition, the IES AL serves as the primary analytical facility for projects funded by other Federal, State and local agencies. Although IES is not a degree-granting institution, extensive postdoctoral, graduate, undergraduate (through an NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant) student research is also done in the IES AL. The instrument and information infrastructure upgrades requested under this grant will provide both necessary replacements and state-of-the-art new technology for this crucial community resource for ecology research.
