This Biological Facilities Center proposal requests funds to expand the capability and flexibility of the stable isotope laboratory within the Ecosystems Center of the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts. A second mass spectrometer specialized for the measurement of carbon and nitrogen isotopes and controlled environmental chambers will be added so that the basic mechanisms leading to the changed isotopic abundances may be investigated. This instrumentation will be used for research spanning a wide range of issues in environmental research: marine and aquatic food webs, terrestrial biogeochemistry, and sulfur cycling in air and water. The combination of advanced analytical capabilities with precisely controlled growth chambers will provide a unique flexibility for addressing ecological questions. Currently there are only a few centers of multidisciplinary research on ecosystems; the Ecosystems Center is one of the largest of these. The facility will serve not only the scientists of the Ecosystems Center but also investigators from outside Woods Hole.
