New study from @mvanderheijden.bsky.social lab, showing that many commercial mycorrhizal inoculants are snake oil. So important for this data to be published! Between this, @lizkoziol.bsky.social and Matt Salomon’s work… well I think we make a strong point. onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

We are happy to introduce the Soil Ecology SIG @britishecologicalsociety.org! Our aim is to connect soil ecology researchers across career stages, facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration. Check out www.britishecologicalsociety.org/content/plan... and feel free to get in touch!

Soil biodiversity 🦠🍄 may enhance some grassland functions but suppress others, sometimes depending on soil conditions. Whether the overall effect is “positive” depends on our perspective or goal. Happy to share our new paper in Soil Biology & Biochemistry. authors.elsevier.com/a/1lrAt8g13f...

If you are in need of soil microbial data relating to PLFAs or enzyme activities, check out our latest paper that provides an open-access global database of data form around the world. Thanks very much to the long list of collaborators who made this happen! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

How do you know if a person is #smart? You ask questions. How do you know if a #soil is #healthy? You take measurements. But are we taking the right #measurements? I think we can do better. Here you can read my proposal, an 'IQ test for soils'. shorturl.at/knvG4 What’s yours?

Celebrating the small wins in academia….a reminder to myself (and maybe you….) Please share with someone you think might also need this reminder :) open.substack.com/pub/matthias...

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 🧵

Great publication from Maggie Wagner (KU) and Manuel Kleiner (NCS) on how to design microbiome (+ other Omic) projects with downstream statistics in mind! A must read for trainees! www.nature.com/articles/s41...

If you do #qPCR on soils you might be interested in this paper led by @aoifeduff.bsky.social @femsmicro.org which shows the effect of mastermix, sample type, platform and gene target on the inhibition, precision and accuracy of quantification academic.oup.com/femsec/artic...

In our review of CMNs, water stood out as a resource that might be transferred between plants via fungal connections. This new study provides further support (and in DSEs!). Nice expt by Bea Bock et al 👍 Great to see new research. doi.org/10.1038/s420...

Very glad to see this nice paper by Anika out; systematic mapping is such a useful tool to get an overview of an entire field.

What an inspiring group of researchers! And they are all here in Helsinki for the soil microorganisms! 🤩 #esm2025 #soils

A great day at #esm2025 coming to an end here on Helsinki, with the last event of todays programme being a reception at the beautiful city hall 🥂 So wonderful to reconnect with colleagues I haven't seen in a long time 😊

The final version of this viewpoint paper is now out in @funecology.bsky.social Clarifying the definition of common mycorrhizal networks besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... Follow-up papers: see thread

We often measure AM fungal colonisation assuming it tells us something about function. But… what does it tell us? A short Letter where I ask what root colonisation really means for plant growth, P uptake, and defence. #Mycorrhiza #fungi #plantmicrobiome nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

What happens belowground when a mountain road cuts through nature? After epic fieldwork, root sequencing & modeling marathons, we found: roads unravel fungal interaction networks—fewer links and more generalists. @dajana-r.bsky.social 📖 Blog: the3dlab.org/2025/05/08/w...

New #MIREN publication 📜 Roadsides in mountains around the world alter plant & fungal communities, favouring arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi & putative plant pathogens at the expense of ectomycorrhizal fungi ⬇️ Amazing work led by #Dajana #Radujković @dajana-r.bsky.social 🌐🌏🏔🛣🍄‍🟫☘️🍁🌳 shorturl.at/sbSyN

New study in @nature.com: we focus on the diversity that's missing - “dark diversity.” Human impact means only 1 in 5 species persist in disturbed areas versus 1 in 3 in pristine ones. My summary of the project & its implications: the3dlab.org/2025/04/03/g...

Wrapping up our Applied Plant Transcriptomics course! From RNA-seq to de novo transcriptome assembly. #Bioinformatics #PlantSciences 📑 Slides available here: github.com/bpucker/Appl...

This week's newsletter is about appreciation in academia at various levels and in various contexts - and the lack thereof. What do you think? matthiasrillig.substack.com/p/appreciati...

If you do not know it already I would certainly recommend the channel of @mrillig.bsky.social www.youtube.com/@mrillig You will find there very helpful videos about life in academia. Topics include publishing, writing, reviewing, research strategy, rejections and success - and plenty of advice

A super exciting PhD position available in #peatland #biochemistry. Join @yijiao.bsky.social and me working with cutting edge #VOC cycling in peat. + nice colleagues @voltcenter.bsky.social + Copenhagen + competitive salary + good PhD program employment.ku.dk/phd/?show=16... Please repost!

Soil microbiome inoculation: don't forget about microbial communnity coalescence! My newsletter for this week. open.substack.com/pub/matthias...