The Wang Stable Isotope Biogeochemistry Lab at Boston College uses stable isotope analyses to investigate the biogeochemical cycles of both modern and past oceans and to examine their implications for Earth’s habitability and the evolution of life.
Current Students:
Kameko Landry
Celia Murphy-Braunstein
Heather Donnelly
Ruixiang Zhai
Bastian Muench
Selected recent publications:
Lueders-Dumont, J., A. O’Dea, E. Dillon, B. de Gracia, C. Lin, S. Oleynik, S. Finnegan, D. M. Sigman, X. T. Wang, Fossil isotope evidence for trophic simplification on modern Caribbean reefs. Nature (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-10077-z
Kong, T., T. Lee, K. Landry, R. Zhai, S. Dong, X. T. Wang, Evaluating foraminifera-bound δ15N as an ocean deoxygenation proxy: The influence of oxygen-deficient zone depths. Frontiers in Marine Science (2025). https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2025.1600122
Chen, J., G. K. Li, M. Lin, J. A. Nghiem, Z. Yu, T. Kong, H. Donnelly, N. P. Snyder, H. Tian, M. P. Lamb, X. T. Wang, Isotopic evidence for preferential transport of fertilizer nitrogen into the northern Gulf of Mexico during high water discharge. Communications Earth & Environment (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01873-y
Yao, W., T. Kong, X. T. Wang, R. Zhai, R. Zhang, Y. Liu, Expanded subsurface ocean anoxia in the Atlantic during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. Nature Communications (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-53423-x
Donnelly, H., M. Ingersoll, M. Lin, H. E. Rivera, C. A. Tramonte, S. W. Davies, X. T. Wang, Groundtruthing nitrogen isotopes as a symbiosis proxy using the facultatively symbiotic coral Oculina arbuscula. Frontiers in Marine Science (2024). https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2024.1433382
Chen, W.-H., H. Ren, J. C. H. Chiang, Y.-L. Wang, R.-Y. Cai-Li, Y.-C. Chen, C.-C. Shen, F. W. Taylor, T. M. DeCarlo, C.-R. Wu, H.-S. Mii, X. T. Wang, Increased tropical South Pacific western boundary current transport over the past century. Nature Geoscience (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-023-01212-4
Wang, X. T., Y. Wang, A. Auderset, D. M. Sigman, H. Ren, A. Martinez-Garcia, G. H. Haug, Z. Su, Y. G. Zhang, B. Rasmussen, A. L. Sessions, W. W. Fischer, Oceanic nutrient rise and the late Miocene inception of Pacific oxygen deficient zones. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2022). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2204986119
Dong, S., X. T. Wang, A. V. Subhas, F. J. Pavia, J. F. Adkins, W. W. Berelson, Depth profiles of suspended carbon and nitrogen along a North Pacific transect: Concentrations, isotopes, and ratios. Limnology and Oceanography (2021). https://doi.org/10.1002/lno.11989
