Professor Deborah Bronk Digs Deep Into Nitrogen Research

Professor Deborah Bronk has been just about everywhere. Researching nitrogen and its role in the ocean is her passion and has taken the experienced, knowledgeable professor to remote locations in Alaska and the Antarctic Ocean, among others. Presently, at VIMS, Professor Bronk is working on a project that is studying the fluxes of nitrogen in various waterways and the role of dissolved organic nitrogen (DON) in microbial food webs. In her lab, Professor Bronk commonly uses expensive cytometers to measure nitrogen concentrations in various water samples and count the amount of nitrogen in cells. Her lab fridge is constantly overflowing with trays and trays of samples in delicate test tubes, all waiting to be studied by the cytometer. This process helps Professor Bronk in quantifying rates of nitrogen uptake and release by phytoplankton in the world’s oceans and waterways. Both phytoplankton and zooplankton are critical to the ecosystem’s food webs and use dissolved organic nitrogen as a major source of food. The uptake rates of DON are varying in different locations and temperatures, along with a host of other factors. Higher uptake rates exist in the summer, causing a simultaneous increase in phytoplankton in oceans and faster cell growth. Global warming also plays a role; the planet’s warming climate can cause phytoplankton to absorb more carbon dioxide. Professor Bronk is looking further into these trends and using them to predict future changes. Furthermore, Professor Bronk is studying the role of dissolved organic nitrogen in wastewater treatment plants. Nitrogen, heavily present in industrial waste, needs to be filtered out before being released into oceans and rivers. Too much nitrogen can be harmful to the ecosystems’ organisms, causing algae blooms and overwhelming plants and animals. Presently, Professor Bronk is collaborating with the Virginia Beach Wastewater Treatment Plant to discover new ways to filter out nitrogen from sewage. By using various tanks and conducting experiments in the lab, she is carefully tracing the path of nitrogen, ammonia, and other substances through a waste water plant. These processes are critical in preserving the health of our natural ecosystems. While concluding the tour, Professor Bronk explained how nitrogen plays a huge role in the world’s open-ocean, coastal, and estuarine environments but there is still a lot more to discover. With the help of the National Science Foundation and VIMS, Professor Bronk continues to conduct ground-breaking research that contributes largely to government policy and most importantly, the international science world today.