2008 Course Lecture Outline

Sunday, June 8

Welcome Barbecue at Ehleringer's Cabin
  • Meet at University Guest House Parking Lot at 3:30 p.m.

Monday, June 9

Introduction to Isotope Ratio Mass Spectrometry
Jim Ehleringer, University of Uath
Thure Cerling, University of Utah
  • introduction to course
  • isotope notation
  • isotope effects - abiotic and biotic
  • natural variation in abundances
  • instrumentation
  • field sampling

Tuesday, June 10

Water at Landscape and Regional Scales
Gabe Bowen, Purdue University
  • H and O isotopes in meteoric water: principles, patterns, and processes
  • the Craig-Gordon evaporative enrichment process
  • ground water, lakes and streams as integrators of water
  • regional and global water cycles
  • spatial scaling of water and its isotopes from precipitation to rivers
  • large-scale patterns and impacts of human water use

Wednesday, June 11

Lecture 1 - Hydrogen and Oxygen Isotopes of Water in Plants
Todd Dawson, University of California, Berkeley
  • sources of water used by plants
  • application of H and O isotopes in plant ecology
  • isotope enrichment in leaf water - physiological implications and ecological consequences
  • linking H and O isotopes to tree rings, hydrological cycle, and ecosystems
Lecture 2 - H and O Isotopes of Water in Animals
Dave Podlesak, University of Utah
  • evaporative and metabolic impacts on body water
  • comparative isotope enrichment patterns from microbes to vertebrates
  • geographical patterns of body water in animals

Thursday, June 12

Plant Carbon
Jim Ehleringer, University of Utah
  • photosynthetic pathways - ecological & evolutionary patterns
  • predicting 13C in plants - C3, C4, CAM, aquatic
  • environmental influences on plant carbon
  • interpreting plant stress responses
  • biochemical variation in isotopic composition
  • agricultural uses of carbon isotopes
  • climate change

Thursday Afternoon, June 12

Nitrogen in Terrestrial Ecosystems
Dave Evans, Washington State University
  • theory and concepts of nitrogen isotope transformation
  • microbial fractionation
  • open versus closed nitrogen cycles
  • global patterns of nitrogen isotopes

Friday, June 13

Lecture 1 - Tree Rings and Climate - What We Learn From Carbon Isotope Analyses
Steve Leavitt, University of Arizona
  • tree rings, growth, and climate sensitivity
  • reconstruction of local climate variations
Lecture 2 - Tree Rings and Climate - What We Learn From Hydrogen, Nitrogen, and Oxygen Isotope Analyses
John Roden, Southern Oregon University
  • models linking leaf water to cellulose
  • recording humidity, water source, and nitrogen pollution
  • intra- and inter-annual patterns

Friday Afternoon, June 13

Quality Assurance and Quality Control of Stable Isotope Ratio Data
J. Renee Brooks, EPA Corvallis

Saturday, June 14

Biogeochemistry of the Oceans
Howie Spero, University of California, Davis
  • evaporation - precipitation cycles and air-sea interchange
  • oxygen isotope variation on geological time scales
  • biological cycling of carbon in oceans
  • tracing ocean circulation
  • what biological and physical information do carbonates record
  • reconstructing past oceanography (foraminifera, corals, sclerosponges)

Sunday, June 15

  • hike, bike, bird watch, and picnic in Millcreek Canyon
  • horseshoe tournament
  • dutch-oven dinner at Ehleringer's cabin

Monday, June 16

Biology of Oceans
Brian Popp, University of Hawaii
  • controls on carbon isotopic fractionation in marine microalgae
  • nitrogen isotope variations in the marine environment
  • using isotopes to understand trophic dynamics in marine ecosystem

Tuesday, June 17

Lecture 1 - Reconstructing Diet and Tissue Turnover in Animals - Modern and Paleo Records
Thure Cerling, University of Utah
  • dietary fractionation factors in teeth, muscles, and keratin-based tissues (hair, baleen, fingernails)
  • reaction progress models and modeling dietary tissue turnover
  • dietary patterns on spatial and temporal scales
  • diet reconstruction from fossils
  • reconstructing dietary patterns from linear records
Lecture 2 - Food Web, Migration, and Plant-Animal Interactions
Keith Hobson, Environment Canada
  • sources of feeding and trophic levels: assumptions and mechanisms
  • dietary mixing models
  • nutrient allocations to reproduction
  • tracking animal movements and migration

Tuesday Evening

Forensics
Thure Cerling, University of Utah

Wednesday, June 18

Biomarkers and Environmental Reconstruction
Kate Freeman, Pennsylvania State University
  • 13C and 15N compound-specific isotope analyses
  • controls on the 13C of sedimentary organic matter
  • isotope effects and the synthesis of common biochemical and biomarkers
  • molecular and isotopic tracers in biogeochemical systems
  • molecular and isotopic tracers in extraterrestrial materials

Thursday, June 19

Lecture 1 - Soil Carbon and Paleoecology
Claudia Mora, Los Alamos National Lab
  • carbonates and climate reconstruction
  • ecosystem-level carbon metabolism
  • soil CO2 diffusion
  • paleo-atmospheric CO2 levels
Lecture 2 - Biosphere - Atmospheric Interactions: CH4, N2O
Jed Sparks, Cornell University
  • methane biogeochemistry
  • isotopic analysis of nitrous oxide
  • the use of isotopic tracers in foliar nitrogen dynamics
  • applications of isotopic measurements to trace gases

Friday, June 20

Biosphere - Atmospheric Interactions: CO2
Dave Bowling, University of Utah
  • global carbon cycle
  • ecosystem-atmosphere exchange of CO2
  • biotic influences on CO2 and its isotopes