We are excited to have @janaduchoslavova.bsky.social with us here @zalf.bsky.social! In her MSCA postdocoral fellow project she will investigate fine-root variation in respect to plant clonality. Quite an in-depth study on morphology, anatomy and uptake/transport. First results to be expected soon!

Do you study effect of disturbance on large scales? Use Belowground Persistence Types of plants! We hope that they will help us to understand better ecosystem resilience than only plant traits.

Happy to anounce this hot-of-the-press paper lead by Meng Zhou. We show how fine root traits vary with root anatomy in different root orders leading to distinct differences in trait coordination between monocots and dicots. besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

I had the honour to write a @newphyt.bsky.social commentary on this fantastic paper — summarizing its key insights and exploring exciting directions for future research. Hope it may spark new ideas and helps the community! ✨ 🔗 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Excited and proud to see this paper published! Another example of a fruitful (and fun!) collaboration of #root scientists. Thanks to the leading team, to @newphyt.bsky.social and to many global scientific networks and experiments for making it possible.

Morgen (am 25.9.25) erscheint mein Buch "Mutter Erde", geschrieben gemeinsam mit dem Wissenschaftsjournalisten Jörg Blech. Im Buch schildere ich auch den wissenschaftlichen Prozess der Erforschung des Bodens und seiner Ökologie.

Microbial conservation is essential for sustaining ecosystem functions and services! We propose a conceptual framework and a roadmap for microbial conservation: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...

On my way to #GoBelowground summer school 2025 in beautiful Czech Republic. Looking forward to meet old and make new friends! @exfumo.bsky.social

Happy to announce my first collaboration on microbial methane cycling, led by PhD student Nils Volles. www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Biodiversity Exploratories are coming to town! Save the date for June 2026!

As happy author I wold like to advertise my new book. I am presenting what do we know about functions of plant morphological characters. I hope it will change a way how ecologists look at plants and insipire them in their research. (link.springer.com/book/10.1007...

We did a #SustainableGrasslandSystems group internal mini conference last week. It was super interesting and fun and I am just deeply grateful to work with such amazing people! among others are @elsaelsam.bsky.social @azmisheriff.bsky.social @milosbielcik.bsky.social

Please use this temporary link to get access to the paper by @jitkaklimesova.bsky.social and the #sUnderfoot group: authors.elsevier.com/c/1lOTN4rGdj...

I am very proud to share this conceptual work of the #sUnderfoot working group, supported by @idiv-research.bsky.social. We propose a new plant classification based on belowground persistence.

If you are at #rhizosphere6 and interested in fine root functional traits, go talk to @elsaelsam.bsky.social from @zalf.bsky.social. If you (like me - tearfully) miss out on this event, check out the paper in the thread below 😉

SP4's greenhouse experiment at @zalf.bsky.social wrapped! 🌿 Studying root, leaf & hyperspectral traits across crops, phytometers & arable weeds - grown with or without mycorrhiza. Now analyzing individual plants and their leaves and roots to uncover trait variation. #formula #agroforestry

🎉Happy 5th Birthday to the Root Economics Space!🌱 This fun blog from our colleagues @joanabergmann.bsky.social and Elsa Matthus at the @zalf.bsky.social celebrates 5 years of the Root Economics Space-a framework that describes the diverse root strategies to grow and survive belowgrond. #Ecology

#GoBelowground features our recent revisiting of the RES ☺️ #root #collaboration @zalf.bsky.social

To the world: We are fighting back. Our movement has been silenced by the media here—but we are not backing down. This is what our streets looked like across multiple cities. Tomorrow, there will be more of us! Raise a glass to freedom. —With love, Your American allies.

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!

Headed off to Chicago now to visit Luke McCormack and his Root Lab at the Morton Arboretum.

I had an amazing time at the University of Wyoming visiting Daniel Laughlin and his lab, discussing exciting new research ideas and enjoying the stunning prairie and the snowy mountains together with @karlandraczek.bsky.social!

Klima-Appell von Wissenschaftler_innen in Deutschland an die Politik - jetzt noch bis Donnerstag, 13.03.2025, 10 Uhr mitzeichnen! www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/s4f/de/top/o...

Klimaschutz muss in den Koalitionsvertrag (und in die Sondervermögen)! Wir Forschende appellieren daher an alle demokratischen Parteien, ihrer Verantwortung gerecht zu werden, und erwarten insbesondere von der zukünftigen Bundesregierung fünf Dinge: www.bayceer.uni-bayreuth.de/s4f/de/top/o...

@nahidrasa.bsky.social @zalf.bsky.social expertly presenting her results on Silicon and Calcium dynamics in managed grasslands of the @bexplo.bsky.social.

By my very dear friend Tilo Henning @zalf.bsky.social 🌸

A pleasure to be with you all!

Dr. Gohar Ghazaryan leads #EOAgriTwin, where 🛰️ Earth Observation data, AI & computer modelling come together to develop a #DigitalTwin of agricultural systems, enhancing monitoring and decision-making on drought, heat, pests, & pathogens. 🌱 www.eoagritwin.eu/#EOAgriTwin,#DigitalTwin#WomeninScience #February11

On International Day of Women in Science let's celebrate the life of Prof. Georgina Mace (1953–2020) who was instrumental in creating the Red List of endangered species which now underpins conservation around the world. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgin...

NEU: Hier ist das geheime Verfassungsschutz-Gutachten zur AfD in voller Länge. Fast 5000 Quellen hat die Behörde in den vergangenen Jahren ausgewertet, jetzt hat @netzpolitik.org das Gutachten veröffentlicht.

Experimental setup: done! Fingers crossed now for all the little seedling friends to grow strong. First PhD experiment of @azmisheriff.bsky.social @zalf.bsky.social very well started! Thanks @elsaelsam.bsky.social, @karlabarfuss.bsky.social, Grit and Tilo for support!

There really *was* an *old* Phytologist. *New* Phytologist aimed to be accessible not only to research botanists, but to school teachers, etc. 🧪🌾

If you see this quote with flowers from your gallery.

🌿 Moore mit Zukunft: trockengelegte Moore wiederzuvernässen ist wichtig für Umwelt- und Klimaschutz. 🌍 🚜 Doch wie lassen sich diese Flächen für die Landwirtschaft nutzen?💡Das Projektteam von WetNetBB ist auf der Grünen Woche und hat dafür Ideen im Gepäck! 📍Halle 23a https://wetnetbb.de/

Do you want to study roots? We released RhizoVision Explorer 3 years ago and now have 12,500+ downloads. RVE is free, open-source software for analyzing root images. The website covers common reproducible imaging approaches. Feel free to ask any questions! Version 2 coming! www.rhizovision.com

What a nice start to 2025! The second chapter of my PhD is now out in Ecology Letters! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1...

Poslední pohádka tohoto roku: PF 2025 klimesovajitka.wordpress.com/2024/12/31/p...

The #belowground can be #artistic and #poetic. Curtis Lubbe drew these two illustrations, inspired by observations of different types of #rhizomes, and Zhimin Liu added his poetic words and beautiful script. ⏩https://1url.cz/s1SQX #GoBelowground #clonality #ExFuMo @ibotcz.bsky.social

1. I feel like this is such obvious advice that it gets taken for granted & consequently no one says this to young scientists but READ PAPERS, read all the papers. As you move up in your career you will have less & less time to do this. Read everything that appeals to you not just in your field

Could not make it to #BES2024 or to the cross-biome tree root trait and function session @moniqueweemstra.bsky.social and I organized? No worries, I will summarize it here.

Check out the new call for the Biodiversity Exploratories @bexplo.bsky.social. I grew up in the Explos as a PhD student and still am a member, enjoying both the scientific opportunities and the social network a lot.

The Irish pub in Liverpool did some good business today thanks to #BES2024!

It was an absolute pleasure to be part of the thematic session at #BES2024 lead by @moniqueweemstra.bsky.social and @kaaze7.bsky.social. I presented work on holistic belowground functioning by the #sUnderfoot group including results from @josephtumber.bsky.social and @jitkaklimesova.bsky.social

Not a talk, but a *whole Thematic Session* about roots at #BES2024! Chaired by Katrin Fleischer @kaaze7.bsky.social and me! Hope to see y'all there tomorrow morning, or some other time at the meeting @britishecolsoc.bsky.social

Arrived in beautiful Liverpool for #BES2024! Already met friends and enjoyed Mathew St. Now looking forward to get the conference startet tomorrow!

It's this time of the year again... 🎄 what a pleasure to party, play and glitter with my wonderful colleagues from #SustainableGrasslandSystems group @zalf.bsky.social in the cozy new lab in #Paulinenaue. And look at this belowground Christmas tree! @elsaelsam.bsky.social @milosbielcik.bsky.social

Thanks for sharing @tcamenzind.bsky.social ! And thanks as well to @milosbielcik.bsky.social and Tilo Henning @zalf.bsky.social in #Paulinenaue!

It was an amazing talk and an absolute pleasure to have you around! Thanks for giving this guest lecture @zalf.bsky.social!

WOW! I have to admit that I didn't spend much time on the blue side yet but in the last two weeks things really escalated quickly. I am looking forward to this new era 😊

It was such a pleasure to be with you all!