Environmental
Stable isotopes can be detected and changes in isotopic composition over time can be accurately determined at near natural abundance levels. Stable isotope signatures can thus be used as natural, intrinsic tracers to study systems where the use of proxies would be impracticable, for example for following the movement of water using dyes. Our state of the art laboratory, Mylnefield Isotope Signatures can therefore provide a powerful tool for tackling many environmentally important questions:
- The identification of primary and secondary food sources, elucidating predator/prey relationships and constructing food webs.
- Tracing nutrient uptake by plants
- Measuring environmental stressors by monitoring plant uptake of CO2 and/or water.
- Identifying water transport pathways through an ecosystem.
Mylnefield Research Services can also offer a cutting edge microbiological profiling service through its links with EnPrint Ltd. EnPrint Ltd has developed a suite of state-of-the-art molecular methods for the for the assessment of ecological water quality , by a rapid and accurate profiling of specific microorganism groups that are both difficult to identify by traditional taxonomy and used as common environmental indicators. The technique allows simple accurate and high-throughput measurement of the abundance of target organisms, whilst removing the subjectivity and mis-identification issues associated with the traditional microscopic approach.
