An exciting day today. Our work, co-led by @mhanusch.bsky.social and @thomasdussarrat.bsky.social was published in Nature Ecology & Evolution. In this review, we explore the concept of chemodiversity and what role it could play for ecological functions at landscape-level. doi.org/10.1038/s415...

Ecological role of emergent properties in the chemodiversity landscape - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Many biotic interactions occur via chemical compounds released in the environment. Here the authors review the field of chemical ecology and discuss the importance of investigating landscape-scale che...

doi.org

🌱 Delve deeper into the ecology of soil with "The Ecology of Soil: From communities to ecosystems", a fascinating new book release from our Executive Editor Richard Bardgett! 🪱 Read more: buff.ly/6A4abeW

Check out this #Root methods course organised at Aarhus University in May 2026! Register using the link below. phd.tech.au.dk/for-phd-stud...

There’s still time to register for the 11th ISRR Dundee Root Medal award workshop 2025: Harnessing plant-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere for plant and ecosystem benefits. Date: 25 November 2025 Awardee: Prof. Simona Radutoiu Link: www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/dundee-roo...

The latest ISRR newsletter is available online! Check it out! www.rootresearch.org/newsletter

Evaluation of combined root exudate and rhizosphere microbiota sampling approaches to elucidate plant-soil-microbe interaction https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.10.23.683011v1

Pleased to share our new article in Cell Host & Microbe, a collaboration with the group of Zhong Wei at NJAU Common mycorrhizal networks facilitate plant disease resistance by altering rhizosphere microbiome assembly Free share link: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lnTD6t8JE...

Rethinking microbial carbon use efficiency in soil models. Hint consider microbial anatomy and physiology www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Fungal-mediated soil aggregation as a mechanism for carbon stabilization academic.oup.com/ismej/articl... Beautiful review by @stevendegoede.bsky.social

Fungal-mediated soil aggregation as a mechanism for carbon stabilization

Abstract. Soils can potentially be turned into net carbon sinks for atmospheric carbon to offset anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. Occlusion of soil

academic.oup.com

📖 A new review concludes that understanding the functional consequences of biodiversity loss is critical but we need to be clear about what type of biodiversity change we are measuring and to focus on the loss of stably coexisting core species.🌳🌲🌼 👉 buff.ly/kqQghYU

In what may be one of Earth’s craziest forms of mimicry, researchers in 2023 reported a species of rove beetle that grows a termite puppet on its back to fool real termites into feeding it. Learn more during #InsectWeek: scim.ag/40mj1S8

Beetle grows ‘termite’ on back to steal food

Puppet helps insect trick real termites into feeding it

scim.ag

Peatland VOC flux measurements in the beautiful #StoreMosseNationalPark. Nice collaboration between @yijiao.bsky.social @voltcenter.bsky.social and @unpeatable.bsky.social. Funding from @villumfonden.bsky.social @dg.dk

🦠Research reveals that nitrogen deposition decouples grassland plant community from soil bacterial & fungal communities, posing great challenges for an accurate evaluation of ecosystem functions under future global change scenarios 🧪🌍

Nitrogen deposition decouples grassland plant community from soil bacterial and fungal communities along a precipitation gradient

buff.ly

Somehow missed this one ... " Huxman et al. An impossible dream to inspire possible synthesis" = how experimental designs that employ common gardens to integrate processes across scales hold special promise 🧪🌐🌾 #traitbasedecology besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

A common garden super‐experiment: An impossible dream to inspire possible synthesis

We summarize the large body of research on Sonoran Desert winter annuals to demonstrate how experimental designs that employ common gardens to integrate processes across scales hold special promise. ...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

I'm guessing this is probably very well worth the read! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10....

Ecology needs a causal overhaul

Ecology has yet to embrace causal inference, yet most questions in ecology are causal. Despite the common use of terms that imply causation, such as “shapes”, “drives”, or “impacts”, many studies shy...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

🚨New data paper/open data alert!🚨 BioTIME v2.0 is out now! We've expanded the database with improved spatial and taxonomic coverage, with a new R package! As always, free, public, and open acess :) Paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Database: biotime.st-andrews.ac.uk

BioTIME 2.0: Expanding and Improving a Database of Biodiversity Time Series

Motivation Here, we make available a second version of the BioTIME database, which compiles records of abundance estimates for species in sample events of ecological assemblages through time. The up...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

This is huge. 🌎

Cher Chow 周馥溢@cherfychow.bsky.social · last yr.

🚨New data paper/open data alert!🚨 BioTIME v2.0 is out now! We've expanded the database with improved spatial and taxonomic coverage, with a new R package! As always, free, public, and open acess :) Paper: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Database: biotime.st-andrews.ac.uk

🚨🔔 6-month technician position in plant-soil interactions available in @frantecol.bsky.social ‘s lab at the University of Amsterdam! 🌎🧪

Franciska de Vries 🟥@frantecol.bsky.social · last yr.

Do you want to be part of our team this season, maintaining and sampling field experiments in which we test the effect of extreme weather on grassland C storage? We have a 6-month technician position available - apply here before May 23rd! Please RT or forward! werkenbij.uva.nl/en/vacancies...

🚨⚠️ Are you looking for a #postdoc? Are you interested in evolutionary #ecology and plant-soil interactions? If yes, consider applying to this fantastic postdoc opportunity in Marina Semchenko's lab at the University of Tartu. Such a great project! #ERC #PlantSoilAdapt 🌍🧪

Plant Evolutionary Ecology lab@plantecoevout.bsky.social · last yr.

We are looking for a research fellow to join our group for 2 years! Please share with anyone looking for a new position and interested in 🌱 local adaptation, plant-soil interactions and land use! euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/340833

Out now by Liu et al in Nature Communications: 'Multiple targeted grassland restoration interventions enhance ecosystem service multifunctionality' www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Multiple targeted grassland restoration interventions enhance ecosystem service multifunctionality - Nature Communications

Widespread grassland degradation poses major societal and environmental challenges. Here, the authors propose multiple targeted interventions as a crucial strategy for simultaneously enhancing grassla...

nature.com

Alonso-Crespo et al. explore priority and year effects on plant diversity, productivity and vertical root 𖣂 distribution. Read about their insights from a grassland field experiment.🌿 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Exploring Priority and Year Effects on Plant Diversity, Productivity and Vertical Root Distribution: First Insights From a Grassland Field Experiment

In a field experiment, we tested how priority and year effects influence the aboveground and belowground structure and functioning of dry acidic grasslands. Time since establishment and year of initi...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Amazing opportunities for doing a PhD or a postdoc with a root wizard and really great PI. UCLouvain’s rooty team is also fantastic. Very supportive colleagues doing high quality and impactful work. I fully recommend!

Guillaume Lobet@guillaumelobet.bsky.social · last yr.

🧪🌱💡 #PlantSciJob Are you passionate about #robust cropping systems? Do you want to explore how #plant #roots impact water flow across different scales? I am thrilled to say that we have 4 open positions (2 #PhD, 2 #postdocs) @UCLouvain (BE) for the EU project DROOGHT. More: drooght.github.io

🚨The deadline for Early-bird registration for the Rhizosphere 6 conference in Edinburgh is approaching (30 April)! Do not forget to register soon! #roots #RootingForEarth www.rhizo6.org

Rhizosphere 6 - Rooting for Earth

Welcome address and drinks evening of Sunday the 15th June Conference proper starts at 09.00 on Monday 16th and closes at 13.30 on Thursday the 19th of June.

rhizo6.org

Outstanding paper from @dgarrs.bsky.social and Christoph Keel  on vertical microbiome transmission in wheat! -> Seed-borne bacteria drive wheat rhizosphere microbiome assembly via niche partitioning and facilitation

Seed-borne bacteria drive wheat rhizosphere microbiome assembly via niche partitioning and facilitation

Microbial communities play a crucial role in supporting plant health and productivity. Reproducible, natural plant-associated microbiomes can help disentangle microbial dynamics across time and space. Here, using a sequential propagation strategy, we generated a complex and reproducible wheat rhizosphere microbiome (RhizCom) to study successional dynamics and interactions between the soil and heritable seed-borne rhizosphere microbiomes (SbRB) in a microcosm. Using 16S rRNA sequencing and genome-resolved shotgun metagenomics, we find that SbRB surpassed native soil microbes as the dominant rhizosphere-associated microbiome source. SbRB genomes were enriched in host-associated traits including degradation of key saccharide (niche partitioning) and cross-feeding interactions that supported partner strains (niche facilitation). In vitro co-culture experiments confirmed that helper SbRB strains facilitated the growth of partner bacteria on disaccharides as sole carbon source. These results reveal the importance of seed microbiota dynamics in microbial succession and community assembly, which could inform strategies for crop microbiome manipulation.

nature.com

🚨PhD position in Functional Plant Diversity and Community Assembly available in Prof. Vicky Temperton's group (@7toucans.bsky.social) at the Leuphana University Lueneburg (Germany). Deadline: May 4, 2025 🧪🌍 www.leuphana.de/en/universit...

Exploring #priority and #year effects on #plant diversity, productivity and vertical #root distribution: first insights from a grassland field experiment 🧪🌍

Inés M. Alonso-Crespo@inesalonsocrespo.bsky.social · last yr.

Does the order in which plants arrive in an community matter? YES! but weather also plays a key role! The second chapter of my thesis is finally out! If you want to know all the details, here is the full article: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... I tell you about it below ⬇️

Revisiting the #root economics space 🧪🌍

Joana Bergmann@joanabergmann.bsky.social · last yr.

Very happy to see this review on the #root economics space lead by @elsaelsam.bsky.social being published! link.springer.com/article/10.1... We show support and limitations of the concept, map extensions and discus future research avenues. Amazing team of coauthors!

Our study ‘The global human impact on biodiversity’ is out in Nature! Through an unprecedented synthesis (2133 studies!) we show that humans are not only shrinking species numbers—but reshaping entire communities across the planet. 🌍🌐🐟🌿🪲 www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Revisiting the #root economics space 🧪🌍

Joana Bergmann@joanabergmann.bsky.social · last yr.

Very happy to see this review on the #root economics space lead by @elsaelsam.bsky.social being published! link.springer.com/article/10.1... We show support and limitations of the concept, map extensions and discus future research avenues. Amazing team of coauthors!

Interested in plant #root economics? Have a look at our review paper in Plant and Soil. Amazingly led by @elsaelsam.bsky.social and @joanabergmann.bsky.social. Really enjoyed working on this paper with a great team of co-authors.

Joana Bergmann@joanabergmann.bsky.social · last yr.

Very happy to see this review on the #root economics space lead by @elsaelsam.bsky.social being published! link.springer.com/article/10.1... We show support and limitations of the concept, map extensions and discus future research avenues. Amazing team of coauthors!