Marcia Kyle

Title: Senior Research Associate
email: mkyle@asu.edu

My association with Jim Elser began in 1992 while attending graduate school at UT Arlington for my MS. My advisors, Thomas Chzanowski and Bob Sterner were PI's with Jim on a grant involving effects of whole lake fish manipulations on the food web (I looked at the microbial side). The experiment was run at ELA in Canada.

After graduation I spent a brief time on the Eastern Shore before coming to Arizona as part of Jim's lab. I moved to ASU in the Spring of 1998 to work on the "light to nutrient" hypothesis, a collaborative effort between Jim, Jotaro Urabe and Tom Andersen, which found me back at ELA. Life has been full to the brim since then. While working with Jim I have travelled and done research in Japan (Aquatron), Mexico (working on stromatolites at Cuatro Cienegas), Svalbard (growth rate hypothesis), and Norway and Colorado (on effects of atmospheric nitrogen deposition on zooplankton). I have worked on numerous grants, primarily looking at the connections between growth, %RNA, and body phosphorus in a great assortment of organisms as well as human tumors. Because of Jim's many collaborations, I have had the opportunity to met and worked with many fine scientists and students.

I am currently working on the "Follow the Elements" astrobiology grant and will be involved in both lab work (chemostat studies) and field work (Yellowstone National Park).