MRI: Acquisition of an Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer for Tracing Human-Environment Interactions

University Of Utah, Salt Lake City UT

Investigators

Abstract

An award is made to the University of Utah to purchase an isotope ratio mass spectrometer in support of research on human-environment interactions. The new instrument will be installed in and managed through the Stable Isotope Ratios for Environmental Research (SIRFER) facility, a campus core facility associated with the University?s Global Change and Sustainability Center. Faculty affiliates from across campus will use the new instrument to make novel measurements of the distribution of stable isotopes of hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen in a wide range of environmental compounds. These data will allow the researchers to reconstruct the history of human interactions with the environment through the study of sedimentary archives and tree rings, understand and quantify the cycling of carbon, water, and nitrogen within human-dominated landscapes, and identify the indirect effects of human activity on the climate, hydrology, ecology, and biogeochemistry of areas not subject to high-density human habitation. Urbanization, ecological planning, and water and nutrient issues in the western USA will be dominant foci for this work, which will leverage ongoing collaborative research projects and infrastructure development efforts at the University. As a part of the SIRFER facility, the new instrument will be a cornerstone of a facility that is leading the integration of traditional mass spectrometric methods for isotope ratio measurement with next-generation laser-based techniques, and will provide calibration and validation support for a large number of high-frequency laser systems used by the project team for monitoring of environmental isotope ratios. The new mass spectrometer will be used in undergraduate and graduate courses at the University of Utah and provide opportunities for students in these courses to explore new environmental systems and measurement techniques. It will support broad-reaching graduate student and postdoctoral training efforts associated with the Interuniversity Training in Continental-scale Ecology (ITCE) program, which coordinates two graduate-level summer short courses each summer and supports postdoctoral training and research in support of large-scale ecology and Earth science. Research supported by this work involves extensive collaboration with social scientists, engineers and planners, and these collaborations will help leverage research results to improve the planning and management of the coupled human-environment system.