25 June 2024
Grant proposal accepted
A (big) grant proposal was accepted! FOREST (Fusion Oriented REsearch for disruptive Science and Technology) program of JST. This is a 7.5-year funding that supports “unrestricted, challenging and fusion-oriented diverse research not bound by the existing frameworks”. Under this long-term funding, I’ll continue studying associations of DOM and microbes in freshwater lakes, focused on Lake Biwa. This is a continued project from Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) that was funded in 2022.
1 March 2024
Grant proposals accepted
A grant proposal was accepted! Publicly Offered Research for “Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A)” of JSPS (2024-2026). I will join a research area called “Digital biosphere: integrated biospheric science for mitigating global environment change”. I, as a sole PI, will work on the mechanisms underlying the stabilization of soil organic matter in the chronosequence of planted mangrove forests in Bangkok, Thailand. Studying the evolution of the dissolved organic matter pool in the porewater of the mangrove sediments is also within the scope.
I also participate in another newly funded program led by Kazuhide Hayakawa on modeling biodegradation of dissolved organic matter in Lake Biwa using SEC-TOC (2024-2027).
7 February 2024
New instrument
HPLC-DAD (Hitachi Primade)
This instrument will be used for benzene polycarboxylic acid (BPCA) analysis. This series is a basic one but has been known for its durability and stable performance.
24 Jan 2024
New publication
The first paper from my group is finally out! It’s open-access.
“Functional organic matter components in mangrove soils revealed by density fractionation” published in Soil Science and Plant Nutrition.
We introduce density fractionation to mangrove soils to identify the distribution and properties of the functional components of SOM regarding degradation state, stability, and origin.
10 July 2023
Award
I received Young Researcher Award (Taguchi Award) from The Japanese Association of Organic Geochemists for my research on Factors Influencing the Molecular Composition and Diversity of Dissolved Organic Matter in Aquatic Environments.
16 June 2023
Award
I received Outstanding Young Researcher Award from Kobe University.
24 March 2023
New publication
The second paper from my postdoctoral work is finally out! It’s open-access.
“Determinants of Microbial-Derived Dissolved Organic Matter Diversity in Antarctic Lakes” published in Environmental Science & Technology.
We revealed that the molecular diversity of DOM was driven by environmental dissimilarity rather than the spatial distance, contrary to the distance-decay of similarity usually observed in community ecology.
20 January 2023
Funding
I received a four-year grant from Kobe University Institute for Advanced Study which financially supports Early Career tenure-track faculties of Kobe University.
21 November 2022
New instrument
CHNS(O) Elemental analyzer (Elementar Vario EL Cube)
This instrument will be used for general soil elemental analysis. The vario EL cube is designed for simultaneous C, H, N, and S analysis, and an additional option for the determination of O. We are happy to have introduced this German-made instrument with a low-maintenance design but with high performance and versatility.
16 November 2022
New members
Misato Hashi, Miho Yamashita, Yuta Watanabe, and Ryu Sumioka as B3 students joined our group!
They will learn lab research themes and experiments from graduate students in the lab until next March.
From next April, they will work on their own undergrad research themes for one year.
Yes, in Kobe U and in most Japanese universities, students spend 1-1.5 yrs as undergrads and 2 yrs as master’s students in the lab, thus they’ll have longer experiences before starting the doctoral course compared to most European universities.
11 October 2022
New instrument
Freeze dryer (Taitec VD-550R)
This instrument will be used for sample preparation for a BPCA analysis. It was chosen due to its (relatively) strong durability against acid.
16 September 2022
Grant proposal accepted
A grant proposal was accepted! This is a one-year grant for young researchers working on environmental science by Nippon Life Insurance Foundation. I’ll work on SOC stabilization mechanisms in mangrove soils on Ishigaki Island.
25 May 2022
New instrument
Muffle furnace (YAMATO FO310)
The old muffle furnace was replaced with an almost brand-new furnace, thanks to a kind present from a colleague! The overall size is much smaller but equipped with a larger inner capacity. Yeah!
1 April 2022
New members
Ayuri, Maho, and Kota have all gone onto the master course and they will continue working as group members. In addition, we welcomed Yuki Konishi as a new B4 student! He will expand Ayuri’s undergrad study downward, i.e., below A horizons.
1 March 2022
Grant proposals accepted
A grant proposal was accepted! “Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)” of JSPS. I, as a sole PI, will work on the mechanisms underlying the persistence of dissolved organic matter in Lake Biwa, the largest lake in Japan, together with Yasuhiko Yamaguchi (Organic Geochemist) and Yusuke Okazaki (Microbiologist) for the fiscal years 2022-2025.
I also participate in another newly funded program led by Yasuro Fuse on the influence of anoxia on the elution of dissolved organic matter from Lake Biwa sediment (2022-2025), and one more project by Toshihiro Miyajima on SOC stabilization mechanisms (especially abiotic sulfurization) in coastal vegetated ecosystems (2022-2026).
FT-ICR-MS and NMR will be major instruments used in these projects.
8 October 2021
Grant proposal accepted
A grant proposal was accepted! “Fund for the Promotion of Joint International Research (B)” of JSPS. I join as an early career researcher who plays a core role in this type of funding. As a team, we will study a chronosequence of planted mangrove forests in Bangkok, Thailand for the next five years, in collaboration with Thai researchers, among them is Sasitorn Poungparn from Chulalongkorn University.
16 August 2021
New publication
Collaborative work on Trat mangrove SOC with Thai researchers was accepted!
“Organic carbon stock and composition in 3.5-m core mangrove soils (Trat, Thailand)” published in Science of the Total Environment.
This is the final publication of my doctoral research (finally).
11 August 2021
New project
I joined a JST/JICA-funded Blue CARES project as a member of the Geochemistry group to help analyze the molecular composition of sedimentary organic matter of mangroves in the Philippines. Collaboration with Toshihiro Miyajima and Raghab Ray from Marine Biogeochemistry Group, AORI, the University of Tokyo.
19 July 2021
New projects
I started collaborative research with Kenji Suetsugu, Department of Biology, and Wakana Azuma, Laboratory of forest resources, both Kobe University, to study the influence of soil properties on arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi-mycoheterotroph associations (Dr. Suetsugu) and influence of canopy soil properties on canopy plants on Yakushima cedar (Cryptomeria japonica) (Dr. Azuma).
9 July 2021
New publication
The first paper from my postdoctoral work is finally out!
“Dissolved Organic Matter Processing in Pristine Antarctic Streams” published in Environmental Science & Technology.
30 June 2021
New instrument
Fluorometer (Hitachi F-7100)
This instrument will be used for fluorescence analysis of water/soil/sediment samples. We chose F-7100 because of its high sensitivity, throughput, and S/N ratio for its price.
21 June 2021
New instrument
Ultrasonic homogenizer (Branson SONIFIER SFX250)
This instrument will be used for density fractionation of soils as well as general analysis of soil texture.
15 April 2021
New members
Ayuri Ohira, Maho Oshimoda, and Kota Hamada as B4 students joined our group! They will study soil organic matter in diverse Japanese soils and mangrove forests. Maho will work on FT-ICR-MS in collaboration with Institute for Chemical Research at Kyoto University.
22 March 2021
The dawn of the Kida group in the Soil Science Laboratory
On 1 Feb 2021, I started a new position at Graduate School of Agricultural Science of Kobe University in Japan as a tenure-track assistant professor of soil science laboratory!
Before coming here, I spent two fruitful years at Thorsten Dittmar’s ICBM-MPI Bridging Group for Marine Geochemistry, University of Oldenburg in Germany, with excellent folks.
Future updates will be posted on this page.