Megan Fork successfully defended her MS thesis on June 12, 2012. Megan's thesis, 'Direct and indirect effects of organic matter sources on denitrification in Florida Rivers,' uses natural variation in dissolved organic matter (DOM) to assess the roles of terrestrial and aquatic sources of organic matter as fuels for denitrification. Her research shows that, as terrestrial organic matter becomes more abundant, organic matter actually becomes more limiting to denitrification. This counter-intuitive result reflects two features of terrestrial OM: first, the complex organic molecules that make it up are not very bioavailable. Second, the tea color of complex OM reduces light and therefore primary production within the river. Our previous work in Florida springs has shown that this aquatic productivity fuels a lot of denitrification, so by reducing aquatic productivity, terrestrial OM reduces the amount of bioavailable OM that can drive denitrification.
Megan will officially graduate from FIU's Department of Biological Sciences at the end of the summer, but she is already in Durham looking for another exciting questions to serve as a dissertation topic. Congratulations Megan!
Megan will officially graduate from FIU's Department of Biological Sciences at the end of the summer, but she is already in Durham looking for another exciting questions to serve as a dissertation topic. Congratulations Megan!
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