Geochemistry and Geochemical Sensing Lab
Jordon Beckler, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor
jbeckler@fau.edu
Website
Dr. Jordon Beckler directs the Geochemistry and Geochemical Sensing Lab at FAU Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and is also an I-SENSE faculty fellow.
Dr. Beckler’s primary research interests include developing and applying autonomous biogeochemical sensing technologies to constrain fundamental elemental cycling mechanisms and rates in redox environments. These findings can be applied to inform hydrologic or climate models, environmental restoration efforts, or resource management decisions. For example, he is currently developing in situ electrochemical techniques to measure concentrations, transformations, and fluxes of trace metals, carbon, nutrients, and sulfides between sediments and the water column of marine and estuarine environments such as the locally environmentally stressed Indian River Lagoon. In addition, he is adapting chromatographic and spectrophotometric analytical techniques for employment by autonomous surface and underwater vehicles, for example, to monitor of the inherent optical properties of terrestrial and marine waters. He has participated extensively in oceanographic expeditions and has used Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs), and Deep Submersible Vehicles (DSVs), in the Atlantic (Carolina slope, Congo River fan), Gulf of Mexico (Louisiana slope), and Pacific Oceans (East Pacific Rise hydrothermal fields, Eastern Tropical North Pacific oxygen-minimum zone). Dr. Beckler is also strongly committed to STEM outreach for high school and undergraduate students and employs low-cost sensors and embedded microcontrollers to engage students on topics relating to ocean observing and environmental stewardship. Dr. Beckler is currently a Gulf Research Program Early Career Fellow with the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. He is a former Staff Scientist and Program Manager of the Ocean Technology Research Program at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida and courtesy faculty member at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Oceanography and a minor in Inorganic Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology (2014).
Selected Publications
2018. Beckler, J.S.; Gray, K; Carothers, H.F.; Currier, R.D., Schloesser, R. Engaging High-school Students and Teachers through an Ocean-Observing Technology STEM Outreach Club. NMEA Currents: Journal of Marine Education. Winter 2017 General Issue.
2017. Taillefert, M.; Beckler, J.S. Cathalot, C.; Michalopoulos, P.; Corvaisier, R.; Kiriazis, N.; Caprais, J.C.; Pastor, L.; Rabouille, C., Early diagesis in the sediments of the Congo deep-sea fan dominated by massive terrigenous deposits: Part II – Iron-sulfur coupling. Deep‐Sea Res. II. 142, 151‐166.
2017. Churnside, J.H.; Marchbanks, R.D.; Lembke, C.; Beckler, J.S. Optical Backscattering by airborne lidar and underwater glider. Journal of Remote Sensing 9(4), 379.
2016. Beckler, J.S.; Rabouille, C.; Stewart, F.J.; Taillefert, M. Importance of microbial iron reduction in deep sediments of river dominated continental margins. Marine Chemistry 178, 22-34.
complexes from sediments represents a source of stable iron(III) to estuarine waters and to the continental shelf. Limnology and Oceanography 56, 1811-1823.
2016. Rabouille, C.; Olu-Le Roy, K.; Baudin, F.; Khripounoff, A.; Dennielou, B.; Arnaud-Haon, S. Babobbeau, N.; Bayle, C.; Beckler, J.; Bessette, S.; Cathalot, C.; Droz, L.; Godfroy, A.; Hourdez, S.; Martinez, P. Michalopoulous, P.; Pozzato, L.; Pruski, A; Ragueneau, O.; Raimonet, M.; Stetten, E.; Taillefert, M.; Tisnerat-Laborde, N.; Toffin, L. The Congolobe project, a multidisciplinary study of Congo deep-sea fan lobe complex: Overview of methods, strategies, observations, and sampling. Deep Sea Research II 142, 7-24.
2015. Beckler, J.S.; Jones, M.E.; Taillefert, M. The origin, composition, and reactivity of dissolved iron(III) complexes in coastal organic- and iron-rich sediments. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 152, 72-88.
2014. Beckler, J.S.; Nuzzio, D.; Taillefert, M. Development of single-step liquid chromatography methods with UV detection for the measurement of major anions in marine waters. Limnology and Oceanography Methods 12, 563.
2011. Jones, ME; Beckler, J.S.; Taillefert, M. The flux of soluble organic-iron(III) complexes from sediments represents a source of stable iron(III) to estuarine waters and to the continental shelf. Limnology and Oceanography 56, 1811-1823.
2007. Taillefert, M; Beckler, J.S.; Carey, E.; Burns, J.L.; Fennessey, C.M.; DiChristina, T.J. Shewanella putrefaciens produces an Fe(III)-solubilizing organic ligand during anaerobic respiration on insoluble Fe(III) oxides. Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry 101, 1760.
Recent Funding
National Academies Gulf Research Program Early Career Fellows Collaborative Grant, $13,000, “Surface Modifications to Underwater Gliders for the Deterrence of Remoras” (PI, 2017-2018)
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Internal Funding Competition, $25,000, “Shelf-break water column dynamics and their effects on nearby mesophotic reefs” (Co-PI, 2017-2018)
USFSM-REU Mentoring Program, $16,424, “Addition of colorimetric analytical capabilities to the Optical Phytoplankton Discriminator (OPD)” (PI, 2017)
National Academy of Sciences Gulf Research Program Early Career Fellowship, $75,000, “Linking iron fluxes to harmful algae in the Gulf of Mexico” (PI, 2016 - 2018)
Sarasota Bay Estuarine Program, $1,500, “Development of a low-cost Sarasota Bay oceanographic sensor network” (PI, 2016-2017)
NOAA-GCOOS, $200,000, “Maintenance and Enhancements to an Existing HAB Observatory” (PI, 2016 – 2018)
State of Florida, $543,000/(Beckler portion), “FWC/FWRI – Mote Cooperative Red Tide Program (Co-PI, 2015 - 2018)
USFSM-REU Mentoring Program, $18,924, “Interfacing flow-control and spectrophotometer components to a single-board embedded computer for enhancements to Mote’s HAB observatory” (PI, 2016)