Christian von Sperber

Chercheur régulier
Biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in soils

Assistant Professor
Department of Geography
McGill University
845 Sherbrooke St W
Montreal, QC, Canada H3A 0B9

Page départementale  | Environmental Biogeochemistry Lab 

FORMATION

• Senior Scientist, Department of Agricultural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany (2016 - 2018)
• Postdoc, Department of Biology, Stanford University, USA (2014 - 2016)
• PhD, Department of Environmental Science, ETH Zurich, Switzerland (2014)

BIOGRAPHIE

DISTINCTION

THÈMES DE RECHERCHE

My research focuses on the biogeochemistry of phosphorus and nitrogen in terrestrial ecosystems, with a special emphasis on soils. I am particularly interested in understanding how biogeochemical processes in soils change along environmental gradients. For this purpose, I often use stable isotopes as a tool to characterize and trace such processes, both, in controlled laboratory settings and in environmental systems.

PUBLICATIONS

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Livres, numéros spéciaux et actes de colloques publiés à titre d'éditeur

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Articles révisés par un comité de lecture

1. Suo, Y., Li, T., von Sperber, C., Ge, L., Cao, C., Zhai, Z., Bu, Z., Wang, M. (2025) Low molecular weight organic acids mobilize soil organic phosphorus for enzymatic hydrolysis in a temperate montane peatland. Biogeochemistry, 168(1)
2. El Hachem, K., von Sperber, C., Allard, C., Heagle, D., Vyriotes, D., Staebler, R.M., Caron-Beaudoin, E., Kang, M. (2025) Characterizing multifaceted environmental risks of oil and gas well leakage through soil and well methane and hydrogen sulfide emissions. Environmental Research, 264
3. Dong, D., Badiou, P., Moore, T.R., von Sperber, C. (2024) Litter decomposition and nutrient dynamics of four macrophytes in intact, restored, and constructed freshwater marshes of Canada. Restoration Ecology, 32(4)
4. Lieberman, H.P., Rothman, M., von Sperber, C., Kallenbach, C.M. (2023) Experimental flooding shifts carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus pool distribution and microbial activity. Biogeochemistry, 165(1):75 – 90
5. Grenon, G., Madramootoo, C.A., von Sperber, C., Ebtehaj, I., Bonakdari, H., Singh, B. (2023) Nutrient release in drainage discharge from organic soils under two different agricultural water management systems. Hydrological Processes, 37(8)
6. Tyrrell, M.C., Courtney, S., Brown, E., von Sperber, C. (2023) Burrowing crabs' influence on tidal marsh vegetation species composition and abundance in a temperate back-barrier marsh, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, USA. Journal of Experimental Marine Biology and Ecology, 567
7. von Sperber, C., Pistocchi, C., Weiler, M., Tamburini, F. (2023) Oxygen isotope ratios of phosphates in the soil-plant system: Limitations and future developments. European Journal of Soil Science, 74(6)
8. De Sena, A., Madramootoo, C.A., Whalen, J.K., von Sperber, C. (2022) Nucleic acids are a major pool of hydrolyzable organic phosphorus in arable organic soils of Southern Ontario, Canada. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 58(1):7-16
9. Lu, X., Zhou, X., von Sperber, C., Xu, Y., Wei, Z., Li, S., Ruan, A. (2022) Whether interstitial space features were the main factors affecting sediment microbial community structures in Chaohu Lake. Frontiers in Microbiology, 13
10. Bauke, S.L., Amelung, W., Bol, R., Brandt, L., Bruggemann, N., Kandeler, E., Meyer, N., Or, D., Schnepf, A., Schloter, M. et al. (2022) Soil water status shapes nutrient cycling in agroecosystems from micrometer to landscape scales. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 185(6):773 – 792
11. Weihrauch, C., Boie, F., Neumann, J., von Sperber, C. (2022) Transferring network analysis to the study of potential biogeochemical interactions of phosphorus-relevant elements in floodplain subsoils – A new use case for the Soilscape Network Approach (SNAp). Science of the Total Environment, 850
12. Grenon, G., De Sena, A., Madramootoo, C.A., von Sperber, C., Hamrani, A. (2022) Linking soil phosphorus pools to drainage water quality in intensively cropped organic soils. Agricultural Water Management, 272
13. Grenon, G., Hamrani, A., Madramootoo, C.A., Singh, B., von Sperber, C. (2022) Neural network model predictions for phosphorus management strategies on tile-drained organic soils. Hydrology Research, 53(6):825 – 839
14. Bauke, S.L., Wang, Y., Saia, S.M., Popp, C., Tamburini, F., Paetzold, S., Amelung, W., von Sperber, C. (2022) Phosphate oxygen isotope ratios in vegetated riparian buffer strip soils. Vadose Zone Journal, 21(3)
15. Burnett, M.W., Bobbett, A.E., Brendel, C.E., Marshall, K., von Sperber, C., Paulus, E.L., Vitousek, P.M. (2022) Foliar ẟ15N patterns in legumes and non-N fixers across a climate gradient, Hawaiʻi Island, USA. Oecologia, 198(1):229 – 242
16. Warrack, J., Kang, M., von Sperber, C. (2022) Groundwater phosphorus concentrations: Global trends and links with agricultural and oil and gas activities. Environmental Research Letters, 17(1)
17. Wang, Y., Bauke, S.L., von Sperber, C., Tamburini, F., Guigue, J., Winkler, P., Kaiser, K., Honermeier, B., Amelung, W. (2021) Soil phosphorus cycling is modified by carbon and nitrogen fertilization in a long-term field experiment. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 184(2):282-293
18. Grenon, G., Singh, B., de Sena, A., Madramootoo, C.A., von Sperber, C., Goyal, M.K., Zhang, T. (2021) Phosphorus fate, transport and management on subsurface drained agricultural organic soils: A review. Environmental Research Letters, 16(1)
19. Weihrauch, C., Weber, C.J., von Sperber, C. (2021) A Soilscape Network Approach (SNAp) to investigate subsurface phosphorus translocation along slopes. Science of the Total Environment, 784
20. Bauke, S.L., Schnepf, A., von Sperber, C., Orlowski, N., Lewandowski, H., Selzner, T., Tamburini, F., Amelung, W. (2021) Tracing uptake and translocation of phosphorus in wheat using oxygen isotopes and mathematical modelling. New Phytologist, 230(5):1883-1895
21. Wang, Y., Moradi, G., Klumpp, E., von Sperber, C., Tamburini, F., Ritter, B., Fuentes, B., Amelung, W., Bol, R. (2021) Phosphate oxygen isotope fingerprints of past biological activity in the Atacama Desert. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 311:1-11
22. Rodionov, A., Bauke, S.L., von Sperber, C., Hoeschen, C., Kandeler, E., Kruse, J., Lewandowski, H., Marhan, S., Mueller, C.W., Simon, M. et al. (2020) Biogeochemical cycling of phosphorus in subsoils of temperate forest ecosystems. Biogeochemistry, 150(3):313-328
23. Meredith, L.K., Ogee, J., Boye, K., Singer, E., Wingate, L., von Sperber, C., Sengupta, A., Whelan, M., Pang, E., Keiluweit, M. et al. (2019) Soil exchange rates of COS and CO 18 O differ with the diversity of microbial communities and their carbonic anhydrase enzymes. ISME Journal, 13(2):290-300
24. Bauke, S.L., von Sperber, C., Tamburini, F., Gocke, M.I., Honermeier, B., Schweitzer, K., Baumecker, M., Don, A., Sandhage-Hofmann, A., Amelung, W. (2018) Subsoil phosphorus is affected by fertilization regime in long-term agricultural experimental trials. European Journal of Soil Science, 69(1):103-112
25. Helfenstein, J., Tamburini, F., von Sperber, C., Massey, M.S., Pistocchi, C., Chadwick, O.A., Vitousek, P.M., Kretzschmar, R., Frossard, E. (2018) Combining spectroscopic and isotopic techniques gives a dynamic view of phosphorus cycling in soil. Nature Communications, 9(1)
26. Peay, K.G., von Sperber, C., Cardarelli, E., Toju, H., Francis, C.A., Chadwick, O.A., Vitousek, P.M. (2017) Convergence and contrast in the community structure of Bacteria, Fungi and Archaea along a tropical elevation-climate gradient. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 93(5)
27. von Sperber, C., Lewandowski, H., Tamburini, F., Bernasconi, S.M., Amelung, W., Frossard, E. (2017) Kinetics of enzyme-catalysed oxygen isotope exchange between phosphate and water revealed by Raman spectroscopy. Journal of Raman Spectroscopy, 48(3):368-373
28. von Sperber, C., Chadwick, O.A., Casciotti, K.L., Peay, K.G., Francis, C.A., Kim, A.E., Vitousek, P.M. (2017) Controls of nitrogen cycling evaluated along a well-characterized climate gradient. Ecology, 98(4):1117-1129
29. von Sperber, C., Stallforth, R., Du Preez, C., Amelung, W. (2017) Changes in soil phosphorus pools during prolonged arable cropping in semiarid grasslands. European Journal of Soil Science, 68(4):462-471
30. Bauke, S.L., von Sperber, C., Siebers, N., Tamburini, F., Amelung, W. (2017) Biopore effects on phosphorus biogeochemistry in subsoils. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 111:157-165
31. von Sperber, C., Tamburini, F., Brunner, B., Bernasconi, S.M., Frossard, E. (2015) The oxygen isotope composition of phosphate released from phytic acid by the activity of wheat and Aspergillus Niger phytase. Biogeosciences, 12(13):4175-4184
32. von Sperber, C., Weiler, M., Bruggemann, N. (2015) The effect of soil moisture, soil particle size, litter layer and carbonic anhydrase on the oxygen isotopic composition of soil-released CO2. European Journal of Soil Science, 66(3):566-576
33. Tamburini, F., Pfahler, V., von Sperber, C., Frossard, E., Bernasconi, S.M. (2014) Oxygen isotopes for unraveling phosphorus transformations in the soil-plant system: A review. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 78(1):38-46
34. von Sperber, C., Kries, H., Tamburini, F., Bernasconi, S.M., Frossard, E. (2014) The effect of phosphomonoesterases on the oxygen isotope composition of phosphate. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 125:519-527

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