Main Focus
- Key processes in global biogeochemical cycles at the molecular level
- Origin, turnover and stability of organic matter in soils
- Transport of carbon in plant metabolism
- Importance of biodiversity in biogeochemical cycles
- Reconstruction of climate and vegetation history
Curriculum Vitae
Degree programme
1984 – 1996 Agricultural Science, Biotechnology and partly Environmental Science, Technical University Munich, Germany
Doctorate
1994 Isotope effects on enzyme catalysed reactions, Advisor: Prof. H.-L. Schmidt, Technical University Munich, Germany
Academic/professional Career
1994 – 1998 Postdoc at Technical University Munich, Advisor Prof. H.-L. Schmidt, Germany and Scottish Crop Research Institute, GB, Advisor: Dr. R. Viola
1998 – 2005 Assistant Professor, Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Advisor: Prof. Dr. E.D. Schulze
2002 Venia Legendi, Organic Geochemistry, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
2002 Habilitation, Organic Geochemistry, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany, Advisor: Prof. Dr. R. Gaupp
since 2006 Research Group Leader (W2), Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
2010 apl. Professor, Organic Geochemistry, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
Engagement in the Research System
2018- 2023 Speaker of the Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky medal committee, EGU
Since 2017 Speaker of the International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles
2016 - 2023 Member of the Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky medal committee, EGU
Since 2010 Member of the steering committee of the International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles
2008 - 2015 Member of the Steering Committee on Tibetan Plateau Research
2004 - 2010 Member of the “Wissenschaftlicher Rat” and of the “Chemical-Physical-Technical Section” of the Max Planck Society
Academic Distinctions
2022 Top scientist (discipline: Environmental Sciences; #527 world, #36 national)
2016 Thuringian Research Prize for Basic Research
Selected Publications
Increased soil carbon storage through plant diversity strengthens with time and extends into the subsoil. Global Change Biology 29 (9), pp. 2627 - 2639 (2023)
Mass difference matching unfolds hidden molecular structures of dissolved organic matter. Environmental Science & Technology 56 (15), pp. 11027 - 11040 (2022)
Microbial community functioning during plant litter decomposition. Scientific Reports 12, 7451 (2022)
Plants with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi efficiently acquire Nitrogen from substrate additions by shaping the decomposer community composition and their net plant carbon demand. Plant and Soil 475, pp. 473 - 490 (2022)
The unexpectedly short Holocene Humid Period in Northern Arabia. Communications Earth & Environment 3, 47 (2022)
Insights into the known 13C depletion of methane—contribution of the kinetic isotope effects on the serine hydroxymethyltransferase reaction. Frontiers in Chemistry 9, 698067 (2022)
Mid-late Holocene sub-millennial scale inverse trends of South Asian summer and winter monsoons in Sri Lanka. Frontiers in Earth Science 9, 789291 (2021)
Seasonal variation of leaf wax n-alkane delta2H values: Differences between Quercus aquifolioides (an evergreen tree) and Stipa bungeana (a perennial grass) from the southeastern Tibetan Plateau. Global and Planetary Change 207, 103674 (2021)
The reservoir age effect varies with the mobilization of pre-aged organic carbon in a high-altitude Central Asian catchment. Frontiers in Earth Science 9, 681931 (2021)
Late-Holocene fluctuations of monsoonal Qiangyong Glacier, southern Tibetan Plateau. The Holocene 31 (7), pp. 1138 - 1147 (2021)
