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Many challenges remain before we can fully understand the multifaceted role that natural organic matter (NOM) plays in soil and aquatic systems. These challenges remain despite the considerable progress that has been made in understanding NOM’s properties and reactivity using the latest analytical techniques. For nearly 4 decades, the International Humic Substances Society (IHSS, which is a non-profit scientific society) has distributed standard substances that adhere to strict isolation protocols and reference materials that are collected in bulk and originate from clearly defined sites. These NOM standard and reference samples offer relatively uniform materials for designing experiments and developing new analytical methods. The protocols for isolating NOM, and humic and fulvic acid fractions of NOM utilize well-established preparative scale column chromatography and reverse osmosis methods. These standard and reference NOM samples are used by the international scientific community to study NOM across a range of disciplines from engineered to natural systems, thereby seeding the transfer of knowledge across research fields. Recently, powerful new analytical techniques used to characterize NOM have revealed complexities in its composition that transcend the “microbial” vs. “terrestrial” precursor paradigm. To continue to advance NOM research in the Anthropocene epoch, a workshop was convened to identify potential new sites for NOM samples that would encompass a range of sources and precursor materials and would be relevant for studying NOM’s role in mediating environmental and biogeochemical processes. We anticipate that expanding the portfolio of IHSS reference and standard NOM samples available to the research community will enable this diverse group of scientists and engineers to better understand the role that NOM plays globally under the influence of anthropogenic mediated changes.

We report here for the first time rainwater organic carbon (OC) concentration and composition collected from open waters over the Gulf of Mexico. Rainwater OC concentrations ranged from 3.7 to 17.3 mg L−1. The δ13C of these rainwater samples ranged from −26.7 to −24.2‰ pointing toward terrestrial and/or fossil fuel OC sources (64–100%) combined with marine OC sources. Colored dissolved OM absorbance and EEM fluorescence spectra were indicative of secondary organic aerosol from terrestrial sources as well as aromatic fossil fuel compounds. Air mass back trajectory analyses along with these results indicate that rainwater OC in the Gulf of Mexico may be influenced by oil and gas infrastructure and emissions from known lanes of shipping traffic within the Gulf. These results also suggest that anthropogenic and biogenic emissions from the southeastern continental USA impact rainwater OC in the Gulf of Mexico.

Primary producer (angiosperms, macroalgae, submerged aquatic vegetation), suspended particulate matter, andFundulus heteroclitus isotope values (δ13C, δ15N, δ34S) were examined to assess their use as indicators for changes in food web support functions in tidally-restored salt marshes. Study sites, located throughout the southern New England region (USA), ranged fromSpartina alterniflora-dominated reference marshes, marshes under various regimes and histories of tide restoration, and a severely tide-restrictedPhragmites australis marsh.Fundulus δ13C values were greater for fish from referenceSpartina marshes than for fish from adjacent tide-restricted or tide-restored marshes where higher percent cover of C3 plants, lower water column salinities, and more negative dissolved inorganic δ13C values were observed. The difference inFundulus δ13C values between a tide-restrictedPhragmites marsh and an adjacent referenceSpartina marsh was great compared to the difference between marshes at various stages of tide restoration and their respective reference marshes, suggesting that food web support functions are restored as the degree of tidal restriction is lessened. While a multiple isotopic approach can provide valuable information for determining specific food sources to consumers, this study demonstrates that monitoringFundulus δ13C values alone may be useful to evaluate the trajectory of ecological change for marshes undergoing tidal restoration.