Molecular structures as drivers and tracers of terrestrial C fluxes - An ESF Network

 

-Conferences

2011

EGU 2011 Session SSS1.3: Molecular proxies for studying biogeochemical changes in the environment

Convener: Klaas Nierop
Co-Conveners: Boris Jansen, Ian Bull

This session will be devoted to the molecular characterization (including isotopic analysis) of organic matter as proxy of changes in the environment.

Relevant topics include:

  • Reconstructions of paleo-environment and –climate
  • Assessment of human impact on our environment (e.g., archeology, land use change, elevated atmospheric CO2, black carbon)
  • Organic matter dynamics (i.e. transformation, diagenesis, preservation, sequestration and transport)
  • Development of new molecular proxies or new applications of existing ones
  • Proxies for/of microbial processes and communities (e.g., (ancient) DNA, PLFAs)

All organisms contain unique combinations of organic compounds and as such, each may provide a unique input of organic matter into soils and lacustrine/marine sediments both during the lifetime of the organism and after its demise. Whilst, under normal environmental conditions, a large proportion of this organic matter is rapidly degraded, a significant proportion of more persistent organic molecular and macromolecular components remain extant within the depositional environment.

When organic molecules deposited into soils or sediments persist, either wholly or as a recognizable transformation product, they can serve as molecular proxies (or biomarkers) for identifying previous inputs of organic matter and various biogeochemical processes stimulated by such inputs.

Furthermore, such biomarkers may serve as an aid to reconstructions of paleo-vegetation and -climate and/or archaeological activities/land-use. At the same time the biogeochemical transformation of organic molecules helps elucidate past and present environmental conditions. All lines of research mentioned here share a common root in that they require a detailed characterization of organic matter inputs and the transformation products of such inputs at the molecular level. This session aims to provide a platform for research, which is both fundamental and applied, investigating any of the above themes but focusing on studies concerning discrete biomolecular components.

For abstract submission go to: http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU2011/session/7774

Deadline for abstract submission is Monday 10th January 2011.

 

2010

SOM 2010 - Organic matter stabilization and ecosystem functions - 19.-23. September 2010, Presqu'ile de Giens, France

XV Meeting of the International Humic Substances Society (IHSS) - 27. June - 2. July 2010, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain

2009

ISOCOMPOUND "The Stable Isotope Composition of Biomarkers"- 1.-5. June 2009, Potsdam, Germany

Advances in analyses and applications of compound-specific stable isotopes in ecology, ecosystem- and earth-sciences. This conference is jointly organized and sponsored by MOLTER and BASIN.

 

Other conferences

 

European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2010 (EGU) - 02.-07. May 2010, Vienna, Austria

19th World Congress of Soil Science 'Soil Solutions for a Changing World' - 1.- 6. August 2010, Brisbane, Australia