Peggy H. Ostrom

Professor

Ph.D., Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1990

236A Natural Science Building
Office Telephone: 517-353-9768
ostrom@msu.edu
Research website

Biogeochemistry and Organic Geochemistry

My primary research interests are in the fields of biogeochemistry and organic geochemistry. Recent research has focused on the application of stable isotopes to a wide variety of ecosytem problems including the understanding the influence of marine derived nutrients during salmon migrations on terrestrial ecosystems and in the evaluation of the microbial origins of nitrous oxide in terrestrial landscapes. My research also focuses on evaluating the origin of organic matter in fossil bones that involves the sequencing of amino acid in the bone protien osteocalcinin. This information can be used to understand evolutionary relationships in ancient organisms over a time frame that exceeds DNA preservation.

Representative Publications

Ostrom, P.H., H. Gandhi, J. Strahler, A.K. Walker, P.A. Andrews, J. Leykam, R.L. Kelly, D. Walker, M. Buckley, J. Humpula. 2006. Unraveling the sequence and structure of the protein osteocalcin from a 42ka fossil horse., Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 70: 2034-2044.

Sutka, R.L., N.E. Ostrom, P.H. Ostrom, J.A. Breznak,H. Gandhi, A. 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.

Wiegner, T.N., L.A. Kaplan, J.D. Newbold, and P.H. Ostrom. 2005. Contribution of dissolved organic carbon to stream metabolism enstimated with 13C-enriched tree tissue leachate. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 24: 48-67.

Sutka R.L., N.E. Ostrom, P.H. Ostrom, H. Gandhi, J.A. Breznak. 2004. Nitrogen isotopomer site preference of N2O produced by Nitrosomonas europaea and Methylococcus capsulatus Bath. Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry 18: 1411-1412.

Chaloner, D. T., R.W. Merritt, N. L. Mitchell, P.H. Ostrom. M.S. Wipfli. 2004 Variation in responses to spawning Pacific salmon among three southeastern Alaskan streams. Freshwater Biology 49: 587-599.