
Carsten SimonHelmholtz Centre for Environmental Research | UFZ · Department of Analytical Chemistry
Carsten Simon
Doctor rer. nat.
Studying the molecular composition of particle-associated organics by laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry
About
25
Publications
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Introduction
I study soluble and particle-associated organic matter by ultrahigh res mass spectrometry; the main focus lies on soil which provides key services to society (ground, food and water security, C storage, nutrient supply, ...). My goal is to link compositional trends with soil properties and processes that mediate these services. I use novel approaches to understand the signals we see better, and apply multivariate statistics and databases to decipher patterns and trends in my data.
Additional affiliations
September 2020 - August 2022
June 2015 - June 2019
August 2019 - August 2020
Publications
Publications (25)
Ultrahigh-resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) has revealed unprecedented details of natural complex mixtures such as dissolved organic matter (DOM) on a molecular formula level, but we lack approaches to access the underlying structural complexity. We here explore the hypothesis that every DOM precursor ion is potentially linked w...
Long-term addition of farmyard manure (FYM) supports the accumulation of microbial C and soil organic matter (SOM), but the effects on energy storage remain unknown. In particular, it remains unresolved whether FYM or the stimulation of microbial transformations explains the increased microbial imprint. The latter would suggest that the accumulatio...
Dams are a globally relevant source of greenhouse gases (GHG), which impairs their function as a source of green energy. High burial rates of organic carbon (OC) in dam sediments may partly or fully offset the emissions. We argue that only the burial of carbon fixed in the timespan of dam operation changes the GHG balance. Here, we took sediment co...
In the nutrient-poor soils of the Amazon rainforest, phosphorus (P) emerges as a critical limiting factor for ecosystem productivity. Despite these limitations, the Amazon exhibits remarkable productivity that is maintained by its efficient nutrient recycling mechanisms. Central to this process is the role of organic matter, particularly its dissol...
Soil organic matter (SOM) plays a central role in the global carbon cycle and contributes to storage of C and energy in soils. Farmyard manure (FYM) addition to arable soils is a measure to increase SOM content, microbial activity and abundance of microbial metabolites (e.g., necromass (NM) markers). However, understanding the mechanistic links bet...
The interactions between plants and soil microorganisms are fundamental for ecosystem functioning. However, it remains unclear if seasonality of plant growth impacts plant-microbial interactions, such as by inducing shifts in the microbial community composition, their biomass, or changes in the microbial uptake of plant-derived carbon. Here, we inv...
We would like to draw your attention to our upcoming session on Natural Organic Matter at EGU 2024!
https://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU24/session/49917
Submit your abstract latest until 10 January 2024, 13:00 CET.
Early career scientists applying for travel support, abstracts are due 1 December 2023, 13:00 CET
EGU24 will be held in Vienn...
Dissolved organic matter (DOM) is one of the most complex chemical mixtures and plays a central role in biogeochemical cycles across our ecosphere. Despite its importance, DOM remains poorly understood at the molecular level. Over the last decades, significant efforts have been made to decipher the chemical composition of DOM by high-resolution mas...
The interactions between plants and soil microorganisms are fundamental for ecosystem functioning. However, it remains unclear if seasonality of plant growth impacts plant-microbial interactions, such as by inducing shifts in the microbial community composition, their biomass, or changes in the microbial uptake of plant-derived carbon. Here, we inv...
Ultrahigh-resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) has revealed unprecedented detail of natural complex mixtures such as dissolved organic matter (DOM) on a molecular formula level, but we lack approaches to access the underlying structural complexity. We here explore the hypothesis that every DOM precursor ion is potentially linked wi...
Ultrahigh-resolution Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) has revealed unprecedented detail of natural complex mixtures such as dissolved organic matter (DOM) on a molecular formula level, but we lack approaches to access the underlying structural complexity. We here explore the hypothesis that every DOM precursor is potentially linked with a...
Tropical rivers such as the Rio Negro constitute a major portion of the global aquatic flux of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) entering the ocean, but the exact amount, source contributions and fate of terrestrial DOC remain unknown. We investigated the role of valley and upland whitesand ecosystems (WSEs) and terra firme plateaus in forming blackwa...
Ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry has revealed unprecedented detail of natural complex mixtures such as dissolved organic matter (DOM) on a molecular formula level but we lack information on the underlying structural complexity for full-scale identification. We applied a novel approach to decipher DOM’s characteristic chimeric tandem mass (MS2...
Tropical rivers constitute a major portion of the global aquatic C flux entering the ocean, and the Rio Negro is one of the largest single C exporters with a particularly high export of terrestrial C. We investigated the role of whitesand ecosystems (WSEs) in blackwater formation in the Rio Negro basin to develop novel constraints for the terrestri...
High‐resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) has become a vital tool for dissolved organic matter (DOM) characterization. The upward trend in HRMS analysis of DOM presents challenges in data comparison and interpretation among laboratories operating instruments with differing performance and user operating conditions. It is therefore essential that the...
Dissolved organic matter affects fundamental biogeochemical processes in the soil such as nutrient cycling and organic matter storage. The current paradigm is that processing of dissolved organic matter converges to recalcitrant molecules (those that resist degradation) of low molecular mass and high molecular diversity through biotic and abiotic p...
The Amazon delivers a fifth of the global continental runoff and riverine dissolved organic carbon (DOC) to the ocean. Intensified biogeochemical processes are expected at the junction of the Amazon’s major blackwater tributary, the Rio Negro, and its parent, the Rio Solimões, due to large gradients in pH, conductivity, DOC and particle load. Disso...
Supplementary Material to our article "Riverine mixing at the molecular scale – An ultrahigh-resolution mass spectrometry study on dissolved organic matter and selected metals in the Amazon confluence zone (Manaus, Brazil)"; the original article is available online (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0146638019300130). The pdf file...
Terrestrial dissolved organic matter (DOM) interlinks large carbon reservoirs of soils, sediments, and marine environments but remains largely uncharacterized on the molecular level. Fourier transform mass spectrometry (FTMS) has proven to be a powerful technique to reveal DOM chemodiversity and potential information encrypted therein. State-of-the...