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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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Atlanta, GA | Posted: November 19, 2009
Joe Montoya of the School of Biology, in collaboration with Annalisa Bracco (EAS) and Tracy Villareal (University of Texas), have been awarded a $965K grant from the National Science Foundation to study nitrogen fixation, nitrogen supply, and biological production in the Gulf of Mexico. This project will study the interplay of physical, chemical, and biological factors in supplying nitrogen, an essential nutrient, to temperate coastal and offshore waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The Gulf is an economically important but understudied marginal sea with major commercial and recreational fisheries as well as extensive fossil fuel deposits. Diazotrophic (N2-fixing) cyanobacteria bloom regularly in offshore and coastal waters of the Gulf and the limited data suggest that they contribute significant quantities of both nitrogen and carbon to the pelagic food web. These diazotrophs may play also a critical role in supplying N to other organisms, including the ichthyotoxic red tide dinoflagellate Karenia brevis. Despite its importance, little is currently known of the factors that promote N2-fixation in the Gulf or the relative significance of different physical and biological processes in creating conditions that favor N limitation in the water column. The Gulf of Mexico is strongly influenced by both riverine inputs and advective processes, providing an excellent model system for studying nutrient dynamics, physical forcing of productivity, terrestrial-oceanic linkages, and the potential impact of land use and climate change on marine ecosystems.
