This is a proposal to develop an instrument for the automated analysis of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in salt and fresh waters and soil solutions and to couple it with an existing dissolved organic carbon analyzer (DOC) marketed by Ionics, Inc. This development will be carried out in collaboration with Ionics, Inc, a company with which we have been interacting for 2 years in refining their Model 1500 DOC analyzer. Seven major and 1 minor projects at The Ecosystems Center, funded at a level exceeding $10,250,000 over the next 5 years, want to and need to make use of a DON analyzer. Projects range from studies of the origins and biological use of dissolved organic matter in estuaries, to atmospheric loading of nitrogen and N saturation of temperate forests, to N cycling in marine sediments and to the organic matter decomposition, nutrient mineralization and transfer across the tundra landscape and down arctic rivers.
