Welcome
Research in the Ward laboratory concerns the marine and global nitrogen cycle, using molecular biological investigations of marine bacteria and bacterial processes (especially nitrification and denitrification), and measuring the rates of N transformation processes using various isotope approaches. We have ongoing research in the following areas:
- Nitrogen cycling (nitrification, denitrification, anammox, etc.) in several suboxic zones of the world ocean (Arabian Sea, Eastern Tropical North and South Pacific) and in Chesapeake Bay, Great Sippewissett Salt Marsh, etc.
- Nitrogen assimilation by phytoplankton and functional diversity of eukaryotic phytoplankton in the world ocean
- Diversity of functional guilds of bacteria involved in the nitrogen cycle of aquatic systems
Please contact us for more information and for queries about undergraduate, graduate and post doctoral research opportunities.
News
A recent study describes the discovery of a new photochemical process that generates the potent greenhouse gas nitrous oxide (N2O) in aquatic ecosystems. Without the help of the usual microorganisms that are known to produce N2O, this abiotic mechanism, termed “photochemodenitrification,” occurs in both fresh and marine surface waters and is driven by sunlight in the presence of inorganic nitrogen. Elizabeth Leon-Palmero, a postdoctoral fellow in the The Ward Lab at the Department of Geosciences, is lead author on the paper, which has just been published in the journal Science.
Princeton’s department of geosciences recently hosted the eighth International Conference on Nitrification and Related Processes (ICoN8). The five-day event, held from July 30 to August 3 of this year, brought together scientists and researchers from all over the world to discuss and share current research on nitrification and related processes in the nitrogen cycle.