101941 news 1258592400 1475896273 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.

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