Prof. Dawei Wang
College of Environment, Hohai UniversitySpeech Title: DOM transformation driven by Water mixing in South-to-North Water Diversion Project
Abstract: This study conducted long incubation experiments with water and sediment samples from the South-to-North Water Diversion Project’s recipient basins to reveal DOM transformations and their driving mechanisms. Results showed that aromaticity and molecular weight of DOM in the overlying layer exhibited obvious divergent characteristics after 75 d of incubation. Nitrate and ammonia nitrogen were the key water quality factors driving these differences. Metagenomic analysis further demonstrated that the inorganic nitrogen concentration level in the inflowing water altered the succession of microbial communities and functional metabolism. Proteobacteria and Cyanobacteria responded sensitively to nitrogen level changes at the phylum level. Furthermore, nitrate reduction pathways influenced refractory carboxylic-rich alicyclic molecules (CRAM) metabolism through the action of key functional genes. This study highlights the influence of inflowing water on the CRAM transformation process driven by sediments, thereby enhancing the understanding on DOM environmental fate in the recipient basins.
Biography: Dawei obtained his B.E and Ph.D degrees in Environmental Engineering from Hohai University in 2011 and 2016, respectively. During 2014–2016, he also worked as a visiting student in the Department of Chemistry at University of California, Riverside, USA. After completed postdoc fellowships at Virginia Commonwealth University, USA (2016-2018) and at Clemson University (2018-2020), he is currently a professor in the College of Environment, Hohai University, China. His research focuses on the fate and transformation of photo-responsive matters in water conservancy projects. He has published more than 70 peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals, 1 book chapters, and edited 2 special issues of scientific journals. He is the recipient of the Alan Tetlow Award (Royal Society of Chemistry). He is now serving as the youth editorial board member of Engineering.