University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations 2017 Molecular Exploration of Bioavailable Dissolved Organic Matter Across Aquatic Ecosystems Yuan Shen University of South Carolina Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the Marine Biology Commons Recommended Citation Shen, Y.(2017). Molecular Exploration of Bioavailable Dissolved Organic Matter Across Aquatic Ecosystems. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/4231 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. MOLECULAR EXPLORATION OF BIOAVAILABLE DISSOLVED ORGANIC MATTER ACROSS AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS by Yuan Shen Bachelor of Science Xiamen University, 2009 Master of Science University of South Carolina, 2011 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Marine Science College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2017 Accepted by: Ronald Benner, Major Professor James Pinckney, Committee Member Lori Ziolkowski, Committee Member Karl Kaiser, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Yuan Shen, 2017 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this dissertation to my wife Jiani Zheng and my parents for all their love and support. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my deepest appreciation to my advisor, Professor Ronald Benner, for his guidance, patience, encouragement, and support. His enthusiasm, vision, and creative thinking have been a great influence on me throughout my graduate studies. He made every project that we worked together so much enjoyable.