This week 120 soil intact soil cores were collected by Unifarm and PhD candidates Sophie and Robin from our field experiment on the effects of diversifying plant root traits in pastures on C budgets. The cores will be 13CO2 pulse labeled so that we can follow C through the system. #coolstuff #soils

Last week we were with students on Schiermonnikkoog. Weather was quite extreme (rain and wind) but still had good mushroom excursions and soil sampling campaigns with engaged students! Exhausted but also inspired by my job and interactions it brings!

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

The peer-review system is broken. But there is no good alternative. I have sent 20+ invites today (5 manuscripts) and gotten already 11 declines and no one has accepted. I have also myself already gotten 7 requests which I declined all (I am busy with the ones I am editing). #academicpublishing

Academic year is open! I want to wish all teachers and students an amazing year of learning about the topic but also about yourself! In the official opening of the year of @unileiden.bsky.social we heard a lot about detours in the path leading to self-development. I would also further argue that 1/2

Ready for the new academic year with our brand new BSc programme (Science for Sustainable Societies) starting along with academic year on Monday. The holiday was great, and I got fully recharged looking for fungi, hiking with kids, fishing, eating blueberry pies, and meeting friends and relatives.

Time to harvest some rucola! They were grown in different microbiomes (inocuated to common sterilized soil). Not to eat (this time) but to analyse microbiomes, metabolites and nutrients. #Soils2Guts #soils #harvesttime

We are officially well into one of my favorite seasons: field work season. I do not get to do it often enough but sometimes I am still needed at least to show sampling locations (and take some soil samples...) and water plants.

Happy to share this big piece on saprobic fungal traits and soil carbon cycling. Great collaboration in the SPP SoilSystems @dfg.de , with Damien Finn, Sören Thiele-Bruhn, Denise Vonhoegen, @mrillig.bsky.social and many others contributing to the study. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Legacy article from times @niooknaw.bsky.social on legacy of drought on soil fungal communities and functions. Key finding is that communities in bulk soil recover pretty fast while soil C related functions remain changed. Photos of the experiment for attention! doi.org/10.1016/j.so...

To have an impact on society, we need to work together. Our broad consortium (Reap2Sow) got funding from NWA-ORC to investigate the environmental and societal impacts and obstacles of transition from animal based protein to plant based protein. Looking forward to working together to make this happen

Soil fungi influence the relationship between plant diversity and ecosystem multifunctionality manipulating plant species richness/soil fungal diversity in 190 plant communities => measuring 10 ecosystem functions -in @natcomms.nature.com www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Yesterday we had 4 thesis presentations and a lovely soil group gathering! Esmee (Bsc) had looked at fungal CUE, Nio (Bsc) worked on fungal melanin and stress, Jacco (Msc) worked on fungal traits and interactions and Arman (Msc) on mycoviruses affecting soil functions. All did amazing (1/2)

Happy 71st birthday @niooknaw.bsky.social and thanks for organising an event for alumni. Was nice to see sl many 'old' colleagues (and both of my PhD supervisors) and dance together. Hearing from panel of old directors was very insightful. South side to the win in the tug of war!

Could not stop the streak with Soil Biology and Biochemistry. I have published with them in 2010 (felt like 2011), 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 (x3), 2023 ... and this week heard that our manuscript got accepted making it come out in 2025. Now on to doing some cool experiments for 2027! 😀

Day 2 highlights were the session I chaired in the morning (especially talk by F. Van der Bom on root traits), climbing to a mountain with some grassland scientists, poster presented by PhD candidate S. Planchenault and the party held at the Scottish museum (with loads of dancing). #rhizosphere6

Day 3 of #rhizosphere6 and conference fatigue would hit in if talks would not be this interesting. My highlights for today so far were talk by Claudia Knief showing their results on 11C/13C dual labeling, plenary by Ina Meier on hyphosphere and climate and Eva Oburger telling about root exudates.

Interactions between organisms in the rhizosphere, the #microbiome and beyond » Dr. Emilia Hannula 🧪🦠🌱 #Rhizosphere6 #UniEdinbourgh #PlantScience

Back in the stately McEwan Hall for @ehannula.bsky.social presenting on interactions in the rhizosphere #rhizosphere6

One castle in France, 40 (micro) soil scientists, 3 days. What is not to love! #microsoil was one of the best meetings I have ever been to. During the week talked about (microbial) death under the fig tree, pores (and non-excisting) aggregates and about persistence and stability of carbon. #soils

New publication: Fungal-mediated soil aggregation as a mechanism for #carbonstabilization, by @stevendegoede.bsky.social @ehannula.bsky.social and others. #fungidiversity #carbonsinks #greenhousegas doi.org/10.1093/isme...

Register for this free meeting organized by @anapineda.bsky.social for new PI! use this link to register: ifocusandwrite.lpages.co/summit-the-t...

Had the pleasure to attend 3 PhD defences in 3 weeks, 'working' in only one of them (hence the 📸 of walking to the hall). For others, as a colleague and co-author. Meanwhile, I have evaluated 3 more as a reader 😀 in the past weeks. Congrats to all new doctors (and all almost there!) #lovemyjob

Opinions from fellow academics needed! I am handling a manuscript that seemed very familiar and checked to see that I have indeed reviewed it for another journal end of last year. It got rejected but 2 reviewers wrote many comments to improve the ms. Yet the ms has not changed. What to do? Reject?

As a supervisor I often only hear when things go wrong or when there is a problem/question. I rarely hear when things get solved (no news is good news) or that there are good news. That is why in the group meeting I implement 'good news/happy about' round and have weekly meetings with all individual

3-year #Postdoc position on the role of #genetics and #microbiome on #thermal #physiology in @erc.europa.eu project in my group at @uniofjyvaskyla.bsky.social FIN! We establish #selection lines on quails, collab @btschirren.bsky.social DL 15.7., start Nov25-Jan26 ats.talentadore.com/apply/postdo...

A review written by PhD candidate (when he was still a Msc student...) @stevendegoede.bsky.social on fungal induced soil aggregation mechanisms and its effects on soil C stocks. Publishing this was a long process, but hope this is helpful for all (especially early careers)! doi.org/10.1093/isme...

170(!!!) people representing provinces, cities, farmers, food growers, NGOs, health care organisations, chefs, etc. came together today to talk about soils. Such an amazing atmosphere and overwhelming interest in #soils. Isabel Siles-Asaff (CML) did a great job representing #soils2guts!

Looking for a database to functionally assign your 18S (terrestrial)data to trophic groups? Look no further! Our article is published here: doi.org/10.1111/1755... and you can find the database here as a R package: github.com/lentendu/Euk... #soils #eukaryotes #protists #fungi

Dear #soil (research) people! Anyone planning on applying for Horizon Soil Mission this round? We would be especially interested in joining the Soil-03 (resilience through management of soil-water nexus) with knowledge on soil biodiversity vs. structure.

Fungal-mediated soil aggregation as a mechanism for carbon stabilization #ISMEJournal by @stevendegoede.bsky.social, @ehannula.bsky.social, Boris Jansen and Elly Morriën academic.oup.com/ismej/advanc...

Soil corer, my good old friend. Lovely day to go visit various PhD candidates doing fieldwork or preparing experiments (sending 950kg of soil to gamma-sterilization). Got to do some soil cores myself as well.

Headed to Amsterdam today but not for the 'night before King's birthday' but to Aula of University of Amsterdam to attend the inauguration of Sahar El Aidy. She spoke so very philosophically about microbiomes and presented new theories. Truly enjoyed it.

My favourite season is here! Fieldwork season! The season when most ecologist get out from their offices to go sample and observe. A few weeks ago, we collected soil samples in the Veluwe region, and more will be collected in other parts in the coming weeks/months. #soils #fieldwork

Joined today the protest against cuts in higher education and research in #Wageningen. 2000 people marched together from campus to the city center for speeches (including a speech by the mayor). #stopthecuts

Mooi artikel in @trouw.nl over het belang van schimmels en ander bodemleven! Met veel aandacht voor ons onderzoek en dat van @tobykiers.bsky.social 😇 www.trouw.nl/duurzaamheid...

Yesterday, we organised the first-ever IBL-CML Leiden Soil Ecology event. Over 40 participants can not be wrong: soils are a hot topic in Leiden! From CML soil group PhD candidates Sophie, Isabel, and Ruiqi presented all their research lines. Well done! #soils

This week has been hectic in terms of moving around Leiden. Each day, multiple locations (by bike). Seen Gorleaus, Sylvius, van Steenis, sports center (exam), library, Hortus, and 2 Rapenburg addresses. Pictures of today at B. thysiana to sample a fungus growing on >400y old book. #fungi

Checking some cultures of #soil #fungi in between all the admin, reviewing, editing, answering doodles, supervising, and meetings. Super cool (dual) culture resembling a woman with curly hair... do you see it as well?

Friday, we had a great consortium meeting with Soils2guts consortium in sunny (and blossoming) Amsterdam Science Park. PhDs updated on their progress, and we heard feedback and ideas from stakeholders. In general, we are well on track and have heads full ideas for future! #soils #soils2guts

And now, we also have a 2-year postdoc position in the Stelkens Lab! 🧪 If you are interested in parallel evolution, genomics, yeast, and climate adaptation, this could be for you! Please apply through U Stockholm's job platform here: su.varbi.com/en/what:job/...

Teaching over for this academic year. Really enjoyed it, and was again super impressed by the talent and passion in students. The course ecosystem ecology made amazing short films based on soil ecology literature #soils and we had a great field excursion to #Polderlab (guided by a farmer).

Today I (as an employee and educator in Leiden University) am on strike against budget cuts in higher education and research. We cancelled lectures today and will resume tomorrow to learn more about soils. #soils My day has been filled with sunshine and (unpaid) editorial work...

Two great posters from #soils2guts project presented in the #NAEM2025 by Isabel and Marieke. Come chat about soils affecting crop and human health also today!

So proud of Ruiqi Wang presenting her (PhD) research on viruses of soil saprotrophic fungi at #NAEM2025 #proudsupervisor

Amazing and enormously inspiring talk by dr. Paula Kahumbu on conservation activism, storytelling, and importance of local knowledge and participation to conserve (/save) African biodiversity. Advice to ecology PhD students: be vocal and try to make an impact together with others! #naem2025

On the way to #NAEM2025 (by bike of course). So far, it is dry but expecting to encounter rain or snow. I'm really looking forward to seeing all Dutch (and Flemish!) ecologist again! Great programme ahead! Come say hi if you are attending! Points for guessing where I am waiting for a colleague...

Trying to revive some older fungal cultures today... one of the cultures (from 2003) is older than the student wanting to use it. Talk about resilience. 🍄🍄🍄🍄

Happy 450 @unileiden.bsky.social! It is an honour to work in this old institution (in the footsteps of so many..). Today on this special day I celebrated by teaching 2nd year Bsc students about biodiversity and ecosystem functioning