Huge congratulations to Pamela Medina van Berkum on successfully defending her PhD! Supervised by @sunsicker.bsky.social and Jonathan Gershenzon, her work on how plant biodiversity shapes chemical defenses bridges ecology, chemistry, and evolution. Pam is now part of Sybille’s group at @uni-kiel.de.

This week, we had a great retreat with our PhDs, Postdocs & PIs in Leipzig @idiv-research.bsky.social Apart from sharing our progress, we hosted a session on extreme events with guest speakers @sebastian-sippel.bsky.social & @miguelmahecha.bsky.social Thanks for the insightful talks & discussion!

#Chemodiversity is an important driver for plant–arthropod interactions 🌿 🪲 🐝. For more info check out this very impressive work by RU members Lina Ojeda-Prieto, @robinheinennl.bsky.social binheinennl.bsky.social and Wolfgang W. Weisser together with Eliecer L. Moreno doi.org/10.1111/1365...

New paper from our JenaTron facility: Bröcher et al. show that reciprocal effects between plants and invertebrate herbivores vary with plant species richness, plant history and soil history. Herbivores want nutritious plants with soil history, while they reduce plant height in monocultures 🐛🌱

A new paper co-led by @henneckejustus.bsky.social in @newphyt.bsky.social shows that Grassland & forest community-level root traits along the fast-slow & the collaboraton gradient relate to many ecosystem functions. ➡️ future changes in plant composition may strongly alter ecosystem functioning 🌱🌲

#iDivConference2025 today I present our study co-lead w C Guimaraes-Steinicke. Great work by our student K Wende. & great collaborators @agwirthweigelt.bsky.social A Weigelt, S Saxena & A Anwar. Floral vs veg structure fingerprints from #TLS intensity #JenaExperiment #Phenology #biodiversity

Three exciting #PostDoc 🧑‍🔬👩‍🔬🧕 positions on #Ecological #Synthesis at TU Darmstadt @tuda.bsky.social for Reassembly #rainforest 🇪🇨 🌱🌴🦜 & #Biodiversity Exploratories 🌲🐄🚜🪲🐝🥀@bexplo.bsky.social Please spread widely ✉️♥️▶️ & apply quickly 🙃 www.reassembly.de/the-team/job...

Two new studies from our site show that 1. Plant diversity decreases the competitive superiority of non-native invaders (Roscher 2025) doi.org/10.3897/neob... 2. Traits of the leaf economics spectrum do not always relate to species biomass (Bachmann et al. 2025) doi.org/10.1002/ece3... 🌱🍃

Why are we losing arthropod biomass? Because we're losing species? Because of which species we lose? Or because of declining abundances? Synthesizing time series from @jena-experiment.bsky.social & @bexplo.bsky.social I will present some answers @gfoesoc.bsky.social #gfoe2025 Tue 2 Sept, 11 am 🕷️🪲

Stay tuned for more updates and make sure to tag us with #gfoe2025 so we can feature your insights of the conference. We are looking forward to see you next week! @cofeuniwue.bsky.social @globalchangeeco.bsky.social @ecoresearchzoo3.bsky.social @uni-wuerzburg.de

It was a short visit, but wonderful to catch up with @eisenhauerlab.bsky.social again and to see some inspirational experimental sites at Bad Lauchstädt!

🌱 #Fieldwork days at The Jena Experiment - @jena-experiment.bsky.social! Scanning roots with a minirhizotron, tracking seasonal changes & traits, plus plant surveys & soil checks. Led by PhD candidate Srijna Saxena with support from Tom Künne. Can’t wait to see what the data reveal! #RootTraits

That's us in the picture! 🖼️ Read about diversity-stability relationships in biodiversity experiments such as ours in @natecoevo.nature.com

Meng et al. develop a theoretical approach and show that empirical diversity–stability relationships in grasslands are best explained by species-specific dynamics rather than by interspecific interactions www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧪

👇Out in @oikosjournal.bsky.social New research from our Ecotron facility by @elisabethboenisch.bsky.social, @eisenhauerlab.bsky.social et al 🌱

Wie Artenvielfalt der Landwirtschaft nützt und wie der Rückgang der #Biodiversität unsere Lebensgrundlagen bedroht, schildert Roland Schulz in seinem Artikel über das seit 18 Jahren laufende @jena-experiment.bsky.social im Tagesspiegel (€) www.tagesspiegel.de/wissen/das-j...

‼️Fresh out @natcomms.nature.com Un(der)explored links between #plant #diversity and #POM and #MAOM in soil nature.com/articles/s41... @idiv-research.bsky.social @eisenhauerlab.bsky.social @akademievedcr.bsky.social @charlesuni.cuni.cz @kevin-e-mueller.bsky.social

🌿 ☘️ 🌱 A new study shows plant diversity boosts soil carbon — especially in under-saturated ecosystems. Learn more about this study in a report by #iDiv's Dr. @gangst.bsky.social: www.idiv.de/plant-divers... @natcomms.nature.com @eisenhauerlab.bsky.social

My colleague Tanja and I had a flash visit to Jena today, where we sampled our chemodiversity field experiment. Tomorrow, we will start a new greenhouse experiment based on these samples. Hopefully more insights from this field very soon!

Public broadcasting visited our experiment today to shoot a science education clip on #biodiversity Happy to contribute to "Planet Schule" #SWR & looking forward to seeing the finished clip soon 🌱🪲🪱

Excited to share our new study published in JoVE! We explore how plant history and soil history influence the functioning of grassland ecosystems. Have a look! app.jove.com/v/67496/jena...

What a great week for Max, he also defended his PhD with great success - congratulations! Stay tuned for more of his research on plant-consumer interactions 🌱🪲 With proud supervisors @ebelingae.bsky.social, Sebastian Meyer @terrecolgroup.bsky.social & Holger Schielzeth

One more day to submit abstracts for this year's international conference of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland #gfoe2025: Join us in beautiful Würzburg for great ecological science, amazing keynotes and great wine! @gfoesoc.bsky.social www.gfoe-conference.de/index.php?ca...

We made the cover! Congrats Maximilian Bröcher, @ebelingae.bsky.social et al. 🪲🐝🕷️

What an honor! Thanks to the many group members and project collaborators!!! 🧪 @icos-ri.eu @fluxnet.bsky.social @jena-experiment.bsky.social

New data paper @esajournals.bsky.social Ecology: 9 ecological traits for 1374 grassland arthropod species, collected over 10 years 🪲🐝🕷️ The traits cover feeding ecology, habitat requirements, flight capability and size.📏 doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

Our paper on the integration of biodiversity-disease and biodiversity-herbivore relationships is out now! Thanks to @idiv-research.bsky.social for supporting us through #sDiv working group funding to bring together two typically disparate fields in ecology! www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

New study led by Francesca De Giorgi finds that selection and phenotypic plasticity shape plant performance 🌱🌿 Find the results from the transplant experiment here: doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

The sky’s the limit for biodiversity research! 🌳☀️ Join iDiv on Bluesky and stay informed about new research, upcoming events, and #iDiv initiatives, including sDiv, the #InsideBiodiversity podcast, and the yDiv Graduate School.

Fellow Ecologists, The #gfoe2025 @gfoesoc.bsky.social call for papers has just been published. Please submit your abstracts for exciting talks and engaging posters to present in Würzburg in September! gfoe-conference.de/index.php?ca... @uni-wuerzburg.de @globalchangeeco.bsky.social

With the fieldwork season ahead, we assembled for our #spring retreat, sharing progress and plans 🌞 Right on time, we celebrated the publication of a videopaper on our JenaTron experiment, manipulating soil 🪱 and plant 🌱community history, led by Anna-Maria Madaj dx.doi.org/10.3791/67496

We just wrapped up the spring retreat of The Jena Experiment. Our professors—Alexandra Weigelt, Liesje Mommer, and Bernhard Schmid—enjoyed a field trip during the retreat ☘️ 🪴🏵️ @jena-experiment.bsky.social #thejenaexperiment #fieldwork #nature #Ecology #Biodiversity

A new Ecological Monographs study dives into the complexities of biodiversity-ecosystem function relationships👇

Paper is out in Ecological Monographs @esajournals.bsky.social Plant diversity facets differentially affect energy dynamics in grasslands depending on trophic contexts doi.org/10.1002/ecm.... Research in @jena-experiment.bsky.social

How does #biodiversity affect plant #defence investment? We found that while overall defence investment remains stable, plant species richness decouples leaf and root defences. For more details, check out our paper: nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... @newphyt.bsky.social

New research in @newphyt.bsky.social led by Leonardo Bassi Plant species richness promotes the decoupling of leaf and root defence traits - possibly in response to resource limitations in diverse communities. 🌱🍃 doi.org/10.1111/nph....

New research in @esajournals.bsky.social Ecological Monographs led by @oksanabuzh.bsky.social Different facets of plant diversity differentially affect energy dynamics across trophic levels and below- or aboveground compartements. 🌱🍃🪲🪱 doi.org/10.1002/ecm....

New research in @animalecology.bsky.social led by @amyntas.bsky.social The relationship between plant richness & belowground multitrophic functioning is stronger in communities with shared plant and soil community history 🌱🪱 doi.org/10.1111/1365...

#iDiv and University of Jena are looking for a Postdoctoral Researcher (f/m/n) in the field of ecological networks www.idiv.de/career/job-o... 🔍Role: Full-time 💸Salary: Up to 13 TV-L 🗓Deadline: 19 January 2025

New study led by Ana Elizabeth Bonato Asato published in @journalofecology.bsky.social 🌱🪱 Plant diversity increases above- and below-ground ecosystem functioning and their phenological synchrony, but effects on traits vary across seasons. doi.org/10.1111/1365...

A new study from our experiment led by @henneckejustus.bsky.social shows that "Root functional strategies determine the (functional) composition of fungal communities in the soil but plant diversity/productivity determines the absolute fungal biomass." See the original post for more details 🌱🍄

📢Call for proposals: Biodiversity Exploratories (2026-2029)! Exciting news! The @dfgpublic.bsky.social has announced the call for proposals for the next phase of the BE! 📝Details & Application Info: www.dfg.de/de/aktuelles... www.biodiversity-exploratories.de/en/participa... Please share the news!

BEF & community ecology fans, join us at the #BES2024 Wednesday, Ana Elizabeth Asato & Maximilian Bröcher: plant-soil and plant-consumer interactions as drivers of ecosystem functoning 🌱 Thursday, @ebelingae.bsky.social & @bmwildermuth.bsky.social : arthropod diversity & functioning over time 🪲

Ein tolles Team und Studenten mit oft ungewöhnlichen Experimenten erwarten Euch!

Job offer for a gardener, starting march 2025 🌱 30h/week, mostly on our beautiful field site (and a bit of lab work). Stellenangebot als Gärtner:in, Start im März 2025 🌱 30 Wochenstunden, hauptsächlich auf unserer schönen Versuchsfläche (und ein wenig im Labor). jobs.uni-jena.de/jobposting/b...

Hello world! Looking forward to shed some light into belowground processes!

🧪Paper alert New findings from our JenaTron experiment show that the multitrophic functioning of soil fauna depends on soil community history. 🪱🌱 Led by @amyntas.bsky.social , published in Nat. Commun. @natureportfolio.bsky.social doi.org/10.1038/s414...

First outcome of our retreat: we're here now! 🪲 For obvious reasons, we've not been online in the other place for some time, but we are excited to reconnect here. We will be sharing our latest research, project news and job offers here 🌱