NanoSIMS analysis has proven very useful for studying environmental processes, both biotic and abiotic. The ability to observe natural element and isotope abundance as well as the potential to observe added specific isotope tracers has been employed in a diverse range of studies ranging from marine to cosmochemistry applications.
The example here is nanoSIMS acquired images comparing nitrate uptake (24 hours incubation with 15NO3) by coral (Stylophora pistillata) and its algal symbiont growing at normal temperature (top) and heat stressed (bottom; after 10 days). Left images are 12C14N ion images, useful for ultrastructural detail; and right are 15N/14N overlayed ion images showing points of 15N enrichment (0.37 atom % is natural abundance). Scale bar 5 um.
