SBE Faculty Member Awarded NSF Grant

kevinsimonKevin Simon is part of a research team at U. Maine that was recently awarded a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation.  The team includes faculty from 4 different academic units on campus:  Ivan Fernandez (PSE, lead PI), Kevin Simon (SBE), Jean MacRae (CIE), Stom Ohno (PSE), and Steve Norton (ERS).  They, along with a new post-doctoral fellow and two graduate students, will be examining terrestrial and stream response to long term nitrogen enrichment and acidification at a long-term research site, the Bear Brook Watershed in Maine.  The research uses whole-watershed stable isotope tracer additions to track the fate of nitrogen along the continuum from soils through streams.  That information is linked biogeochemical processes and microbial community composition and activity using molecular techniques.  The research addresses ecosystem response to long term pollution and the biogeochemical interconnections between terrestrial and aquatic systems.