Vroege vogel perks 🐦 @w-u-r.bsky.social

Mineral acquisition from a different angle – how the #root angle in cereals determines #NutrientUptake A #ResearchReview by van der Bom et al. 👇 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #LatestIssue #PlantScience

•📢 🪱 🎉Abstract submissions are now OPEN for the upcoming 13th International Symposium on Earthworm Ecology (ISEE13) — hosted in Wageningen, from August 23–28, 2026! ➡️https://event.wur.nl/isee13/author •🔗🪱🌍 Discover the speaker lineup and our initial program: ➡️ event.wur.nl/isee13/new-p...

#TansleyReview: Microbial drivers of root plasticity Dini-Andreote, et al. 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #LatestIssue #PlantScience

🌿 RESEARCH 🌿 Alfalfa genotypes with thick roots, increased exudate concentration, and mycorrhizal colonization under low P environments have high P utilization efficiency, opening up the potential for breeding for P-efficient lines - Fan et al. 🔗 doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... #PlantScience 🧪

Workplace potluck dinner calls for us to bring a special dish from our home country. Well… Australia has no dishes of its own. So here we go - Vegemite scrolls 😛 I will deliver the verdict in 24 hours’ time.

The call for #ICOM2026 Symposia applications is now open until October 15. Please see: icom2026.org/symposia/

A few days in Bruges was just the thing! 🇧🇪

My new paper is out! 🧪🦠 Seven years later: native AMF inoculation improves grassland restoration successional stage, floristic quality index, and diversity, while suppressing weeds: academic.oup.com/femsle/artic... Why microbes matter in restoration 🧵

The theme for #ICOM2026 is: “Mycorrhizas in a changing world: challenges, opportunities and solutions"

The International Plant Nutrition Colloquium is in my hometown #Melbourne in 2028! How exciting! 🥳

It’s always so good to see Alex Johnson giving a talk - whether it’s in Adelaide or in Porto! His work on novel micronutrient biofortification strategies in cereals is so exciting, and he’s a great mentor and collaborator ☺️

Is it just an impression or amazing research and discoveries are poping up everywhere about mycorrhizal fungi? A thread of research that I want to catch up on (and maybe you do too):

I made it to #IPNC2025 in Porto! 🇵🇹 24 hours late, and my suitcase didn’t join me… so no poster to put up for tomorrow 🥲 But still happy to talk about #mycorrhiza and grain zinc biofortification, at every possibly opportunity!

Off the train and at my boarding gate in 25 minutes for an international flight, at one of Europe’s busiest airports. The Australian mind cannot comprehend 🤯

Perfect weather for a field walk and talk in the @w-u-r.bsky.social surrounds. Potatoes, sorghum, intercropping, salinity stress, biodiversity, spiral strips(?)… we saw it all.

Amazing effort and a game-changing, much needed database of AM fungal distribution and diversity in Australia. Well done, Adam and team!

The most important symbiosis in the world - and don’t forget it! My time supervised by Maria was formative. And 9 years after leaving her lab, she still remains my only female boss/mentor.

Working with N. benth, Phytophthora, and Funneliformis, @dromius.bsky.social asks how plants treat a symbiont and pathogen in the *same* cell? The presence of arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi within a cell causes a local change in phospholipid signatures as the pathogen tries to invade. #2025ISMPMI

ICOM in Australia!! It’s going to be great 🥳

Happy Tour de France eve! 💛🚴🏻 Will I get to watch more or less TdF, now that I don’t have to stay up until the wee hours for it? 🤔

I’m not sure anything beats a recreational bike ride after dinner, when it’s still warm (31°C) and sunny, kids totally enamoured with riding in the bakfiets (cargo bike). This is why we came here ☺️

The longest journey of our lives, flying 30 hours with a 5-month-old and 3-year-old… but we made it. And there were many welcome gifts from kind friends waiting for us 🇳🇱🧇

A small amount of our “stuff” is taking the scenic route to the Netherlands by sea, via Hong Kong 🛳️. See you in 90-120 days, stuff 👋🏼

If Australian politicians were serious about long term productivity and could read the writing on the wall they would invest heavily in national R&D now including universities.

Getting in that one last Bonds order before leaving Australia 👌🏼

Another day, another public lecture on PFAS 🤔

The sun is setting on my time at the University of Adelaide (7.5 years) and I’m saying farewell to Australia. In July, I start as an Assistant Professor at Wageningen University & Research in the Netherlands 🇳🇱 So grateful to my family for taking a leap of faith with me ✈️

Nine years ago I loaded up a hatchback with sorghum seedlings and drove 1,300 km through 7 states from Cornell Uni (NY) to Clemson Uni (SC), to plant them in the field for a mycorrhiza inoculation experiment. That postdoc was the time of my life! 🇺🇸

OK, but who decided that teething, sleep regression, and scheduled vaccinations should coincide at the age of four months? 🙃

Farming for the future - Prof Rachel Burton is going to tell us about the role of emerging and novel crops in our future of food, feed and fibre.

New paper out: Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi suffer from perfluorooctanoic acid in soil but ameliorate negative effects on plant performance Collab between 4 current or former postdocs in the group to study PFAS effects on AM fungi www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

For Australian Domestic students interested in pursuing a PhD in molecular mycorrhizal studies, please consider applying for a scholarship-funded position in my lab (tinyurl.com/jxcdhp3p) - our lab is a diverse group studying plant-microbe interactions from genes to landscapes

Join us in Amsterdam to explore the inner lives of mycorrhizal fungi using robotics, fluorescence microscopy & machine learning. Work at AMOLF w/ @thomasshimizu.bsky.social + more 📅 Application Deadline: 15 May, 2025 Advert here: amolf.nl/wp-content/u... Photo (!) @vkokkoris.bsky.social

Fantastic Women in Soil Science Australia webinar by Fien Degryse this morning. Love to hear about micronutrients from soil and fertiliser research perspectives.

Just had a call from my grandparents in northeast Victoria to say they heard me on the radio this morning! I didn’t realise my interview with the ABC had been picked up there too. Very cool. Eat your lentils and chickpeas. www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Voted! ✏️

These macadamia plants are never lonely - they’ve always got their companion (plants) 💛

It’s Paris Roubaix weekend!! 🚴🏻

Realising the promise of arbuscular #mycorrhizal fungal #biofertilisers through more applied research 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... 👆 A #Commentary by Salomon & Watts-Williams on this article by Koziol et al. 👇 📖 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... #LatestIssue

Mycorrhizal fungi promote native & suppress invasive plants & help prevent soil erosion Why don't (fed or state) governments monitor fungi? Soil biology, generally, is not included in biodiversity assessments. Yet soil contains 59% of biodiversity? Madness. theconversation.com/from-trading...

SPECIAL ISSUE REVIEW: 'Advances in breeding for enhanced iron and zinc concentrations in common bean in eastern Africa' - Paul M Kimani, doi.org/10.1093/jxb/... 🧪 #plantscience 🫘 🌍

My baby got startled by the rain because it literally hasn’t rained in Adelaide since she was born in early January 🙃

Having two 👦🏻👶🏼 under three is keeping me busy, but I managed to stop by the office today and see the new experiments that have been started by lab members in my absence. This legume x phosphorus experiment belonging to Wen Yan is looking good 🫛

We took 60 dry cereal and pulse products from supermarket shelves and measured the amount of bioavailable zinc and iron in them. Lentils, in particular, were an excellent source of these important micronutrients! www.adelaide.edu.au/newsroom/new...

Very interesting. As the article says, there are a lot of uncertainties, but this is the first headline I have seen on the impact of microplastic pollution on plants. 🌱 Microplastics hinder plant photosynthesis, study finds, threatening millions with starvation www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Our newest research on plant-fungal trade published today in @nature.com. The work, led by scientists from Vrije Universiteit, Princeton University, SPUN & AMOLF combines robotics, mycology & biophysics to reveal underground supply-chain dynamics. Open access: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Hmmm… it’s 8pm and still 39°C in #Adelaide 🥵

Is modern parenthood just messaging your significant other back-and-forth about random crap and life admin while they’re nap-trapped with the newborn in the bedroom and you’re in the living room supervising the toddler? 🙃

New paper! @plantspeopleplanet.bsky.social AM fungi decreased the bioavailability of micronutrients (Zn + Fe) in rice 🌾 We used Synchrotron XFM to look at micronutrient concentrations in the aleurone layer of +/- AMF rice, and compared them to wholegrain concentrations 🧐 doi.org/10.1002/ppp3...