Nathaniel E. Ostrom

Professor

Ph.D., Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1992

236C Natural Science Building
Office Telephone: 517-355-4661
ostromn@msu.edu

Research website

Application of Stable Isotopes

My reserach focuses on the application of stable isotopes, primarily carbon and nitrogen, in biogeochemistry. Currently applications include:

1. The use of carbon isotopes in Stable Isotope Probing of soil microbes as a means to understand which groups of bacteria are involved in the metabolism of different substrates. Current applications involve identifying microbes associated with contaminant degradation such as biphenyl.

2. The use of oxygen isotopes to understand net ecosystem metabolism of aquatic environments. Oxygen isotopes can reveal rates of respiration and primary production, which is particularly important in understanding the development of hypoxia. We've been applying this approach throughout the Great Lakes with a more recent focus on Lake Erie.

3. The use of isotopomers of nitrous oxide to evaluate the relative importance of nitrification and denitrification in the evolution of this trace gas from soils. We have found that the position and level of 15N enrichment in N2O can be used to understand its microbial origins.

4. The development of instrumentation to effect the in situ and remote measurement of the isotopic composition of gases in the natural environment.

Future Research

Applications of mass spectrometry for the real time and continuous monitoring of the abundance and isotopic composition of trace and abundant gases.

Representative Publications

Sutka R.L., N.E. Ostrom, P.H. Ostrom, J.H. Breznak H. Gandhi, A. J. Pitt, F. Li. 2006 Distinguishing nitrous oxide production from nitrification, and denitrification on the basis of isotopomer abundances, Applied and Environmental Microbiology, 72, 638-644

Ostrom N.E., H.J. Carrick, M.R. Twiss, L. Piwinski. 2005. Evaluation of Primary Production in Lake Erie By Multiple Proxies, Oecologia, 144, 115-124.

Ostrom N.E., M.E. Russ, A. Field, L. Piwinski, M.R. Twiss, H. J. Carrick. 2005. Understanding the Relationship Between Primary Production and Respiration in Lake Erie Based on Oxygen Isotope Techniques, Journal of Great Lakes Research, In Press.

Sutka RL, N.E. Ostrom, P.H. Ostrom, J.H. Breznak,H. Gandhi. 2004. Erratum: Nitrogen Isotopomer Site Preference of N2O Produced By Nitrosomonas Europaea and Methylococcus Capsulatus Bath, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 18, 1-2.

Gandhi H, T. Wiegner, P.H. Ostrom, L.A. Kaplan LA, N.E. Ostrom. 2004. Isotopic (13C) Analysis of Dissolved Organic Carbon in Stream Water Samples Using An Elemental Analyzer Coupled to a Stable Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometer, Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 18, 903-906.

Sutka RL, N.E. Ostrom, P.H. Ostrom, M.S. Phanikumar. 2004. Stable Nitrogen Isotope Dynamics of Dissolved Nitrate in a Transect From the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre to the Eastern Tropical North Pacific, Geochimica Et Cosmochimica Acta, 68, 517-524.4