Updates & News

ES&T 2024 Best Paper Award: Microplastic Diversity Reshapes Microbial Network Stability Environmental Science & Technology has announced the recipients of its 2024 Best Paper Awards, recognizing research that exemplifies exceptional scientific rigor, originality, and real-world relevance. Among this year’s honorees, the paper “Network [...] Read more

A new study published in Environmental Science & Technology unveils the first global-scale “chemogeography” of dissolved organic matter (DOM) — a breakthrough in understanding how the invisible chemistry of the ocean connects to the planet’s carbon cycle and climate. The research analyzed over 800 ocean samples spanning from the surface to [...] Read more

A new perspective on how organic matter drives Earth’s carbon cycle is taking shape through the concept of “functional chemogeography,” as introduced by our recent paper in Global Change Biology. We propose this innovative framework to explain how the chemical traits of organic molecules—rather than just their identities—govern their [...] Read more

We recently developed a R packge iDOM for DOM statistical analyses, which is now published on line by mLife. The study introduces iDOM, a new R package designed to analyze and visualize dissolved organic matter (DOM) data from FT-ICR MS. It supports various DOM data types, integrates environmental and microbial data, and includes tools for both [...] Read more

We recently studied the microbial strategies of environmental adaptation, which is now published in Ecology. We sampled the microbes in saline and freshwater lakes in Tanzania during 2020, and examined the microbes with metagenomics. We are also delighted to see this paper was featured as Cover Image of the journal. Here is a summary of this study: [...] Read more

In January 2025, PhD student Hellen conducted a field expedition in Leguruki, Arusha, Tanzania, to sample natural saline ponds in the region. These ponds are integral to local livelihoods, supporting small-scale fishing and irrigation, and play a vital role in ensuring food security for surrounding communities. The primary objective of the field [...] Read more

We just got a paper on meta analyses of dissovled organic matter (DOM) accepted by Journal of Earth Science. The paper is now published on line by CNKI, and will be available at Journal of Eatch Science in 2025. Dissolved organic matter (DOM), the largest reactive carbon pool on Earth, is crucial for biogeochemical processes but remains poorly [...] Read more

Molecular-level impacts of global change on natural organic matter Global warming is closely linked to natural organic matter on the Earth via its decomposition to greenhouse gas. Natural organic matter represents one of the largest and most active carbon reservoirs in aquatic ecosystems and fuels biogeochemical cycles. However, the diversity of [...] Read more