作者：A. J. Tanentzap and J. A. Fonvielle

Dissolved organic matter may offer a way to track and restore the health of fresh waters Freshwater ecosystems, such as lakes and rivers, have been deteriorating in many places worldwide (1). Growing research suggests that many aspects of freshwater health-that is, the maintenance of chemical, physical, and biological integrity-may depend on the composition of dissolved organic matter (DOM) (2). DOM consists of thousands of distinct organic compounds that mainly originate from different plant and animal remains. The resulting variety of compounds in DOM has been called chemodiversity to mirror the term biodiversity. Whereas past research tested how the environment shapes the chemodiversity of DOM (3, 4), a new research frontier is understanding how healthy ecosystems may depend on chemodiversity so as to monitor and reverse declines in freshwater health.

来源：Science. 2024 Vol. 383 Issue 6690 Pages 1412-1414. DOI: 10.1126/science.adg8658