Very happy to see my first PhD chapter being published 🤍 Take a look if you are interested in how tree species richness and mycorrhizal associations affect soil multifunctionality on a small scale 🌳🌳

In trees, intraspecific and intraindividual leaf trait variability decrease along a gradient of tree species richness and are an important part of functional diversity in forest stands, Our new paper is already out in @natcomms.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s414... Want to know more about it? 🧵

A peek behind the scenes 🔬💧 PhD candidate Michele ter Huurne is extracting water from soil and twig samples to trace where trees get their water using δ18O isotopes. Huge thanks to Dr. Matthias Saurer @wslresearch.bsky.social for the guidance and lab support! #droughtresearch #biodiversity #forest

Our November Issue is now live: www.nature.com/natecolevol/... Featuring research on 🧪 🦆Threats to migratory shorebirds 🌍Phosphorus constraints on global photosynthesis 🦠Evolution of the meerkat MHC Cover shows a larva of an emperor moth, from Li et al. www.nature.com/articles/s41...

🗝️ Feierliche Schlüsselübergabe im Botanischen Garten: Wir freuen uns über einen Forschungsneubau, das Herbarium und den umfassend sanierten Altbau des Institutsbereichs Geobotanik der MLU. 🌱🎉 mlu.de/cn0pb @sachsen-anhalt.de @armin-willingmann.bsky.social @geobotanymluhalle.bsky.social

Der Institutsbereich @geobotanymluhalle.bsky.social hat an der MLU eine lange Tradition und prägt die internationale Biodiversitätsforschung. Mit zwei Neubauten & der Sanierung des Hauptgebäudes erhalten Forschende und Studierende die Basis, um diese Erfolgsgeschichte fortzuschreiben. mlu.de/a7u5l

Over 2,600🌳 #trees during the 2018–2020 #drought : • Traits disadvantageous in normal years became beneficial under drought • Trees grew better with neighbours whose hydro-functional traits differed from their own 🗞️Paper out now @globalchangebio.bsky.social onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

We’re thrilled to announce that the GfÖ Annual Conference 2026 will be a joint event with the Nordic Society OIKOS (NSO), taking place in Odense, Denmark! 🇩🇰✨ See you on 14-17 Sep 2026! nordicsocietyoikos.glueup.com/event/nordic... #NSO2026 #gfoe2026

Check our new study about the importance of dissimilarity in water-use strategies for tree growth during drought years in @globalchangebio.bsky.social 🌳💧Thanks @lsachsenmaier.bsky.social for leading this study so brilliantly

New study led by @lsachsenmaier.bsky.social @agwirthweigelt.bsky.social shows: forest stands made up of tree species with different water-use strategies (not just many species) grow better in drought years. #iDivResearch #Biodiversity www.idiv.de/diverse-fore...

Scenes from the @treedi.bsky.social conference 🌳 Participants joined Prof. Christian Wirth for a guided tour through the ARBOFun arboretum - exploring how long-term measurements help us understand forest dynamics and tree functioning #treeDi #ForestEcology #PlantScience

Neue Ausgabe des Konfuzius Magazins mit einem Artikel über TreeDì: "Wald und Waldforschung in China" ab Seite 8. www.konfuziusinstitut-leipzig.de/konfuzius-in...

Inspiring joint conference of @treedi.bsky.social and @multitroph.bsky.social at @idiv-research.bsky.social, with 20 presentations by doctoral researchers, 7 workshops, 5 international keynote speakers, 1 excursion and 1 guided city tour.

🎉 Exciting news: The BAAE Best Student Paper Award is here! @basicapplecol.bsky.social will recognize remarkable student research with a €500 prize, highlighting emerging ecological scholars. 🌿 The award will be presented yearly at the GfÖ conference. 🌟 👉 gfoe.org/de/gfoe-prei...

The start of a hopefully successful week of collaboration and research exchange 🔥 at our joint conference of #TreeDi 🌳and #MultiTroph 🐜🪲🕷 at the #idiv, Leipzig.

Georg Albert, our synthesis postdoc, shiws how species interactions shape (multi) functions in the BEF-China experiment.

Joint conference between @treedi.bsky.social and @multitroph.bsky.social has begun in Leipzig! Good way to start my last year of PhD 🕷🐛🐝🌿

Excellent keynote talk by Yi Li showing eg that multidiversity is more important in forests than in grasslands @treedi.bsky.social

We are just starting our @treedi.bsky.social and #MultiTroph joint conference. 😊. Stay turned 🎄🌲🌳🎄🌳🌲

Kleine Organismen, große Wirkung? MLU-Biologe @drpeterdietrich.bsky.social erforscht Mikroorganismen in & auf Bäumen. 🌳 Mit Hilfe modernster Sequenzierungstechnik will er verstehen, wie sich z. B. der Klimawandel auf die Gemeinschaft dieser Organismen auswirkt & welche Folgen das hat. mlu.de/bcjf6

Scenes from China, where PhD student Michèle ter Huurne is doing fieldwork with the @treedi.bsky.social project: forests, measurements, and big smiles between long days. Keep it up, Michèle!🌱📷 Photos: Michele ter Huurne #TreeDi #Fieldwork

The art of creating images made of tea foam originated in the Song Dynasty (960 to 1279). We tried it with the TreeDì logo at the tea culture show during our summer school.

New #TreeDivNet paper shows generally positive relationships between insect herbivory and tree growth & diversity modulated by leaf traits www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Sharing their expertise in Scientific Writing & Publishing: Prof. Sylvia Haider @leuphana.bsky.social, Dr. Tesfaye Wubet @ufz.de and Susan Trumbore teaching at the TreeDì Summer School at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing last week.

In the second TreeDì course of our Summer School at UCAS in China, Prof. Helge Bruelheide and Sebastian Mader showed us how to apply generalized diversity interaction models to better understand how species interactions contribute to ecosystem functioning.

Today we celebrate the submission of Michael Köhler's doctoral thesis 🥳🎉🎈 Another seedling 🌱 that is growing into a strong, stately tree 🌳 @michakoehlerbotany.bsky.social

Great start to our TreeDì Summer School at the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (UCAS) with Prof. Charlotte Grossiord lecturing on the role of tree species interactions for drought resistance of forests and showing us how to measure leaf heat tolerance. @charlottegrossiord.bsky.social‬

Hi Bluesky 👋🏼 I want to use the new year to introduce myself a bit ☺️ I am an ecologist in progress 📚 interested in biodiversity-ecosystem functioning relationships as well as tree-soil interactions on small scales 🌳🪱

Proud to be part of a group that won a prize for the "best research environment 2024" 🎉🎉🎉

🚨 Postdoc paper alert! 🚨 🌳✨ In a subtropical forest plantation (BEF-China), we asked: How flexible are tree leaves when light & neighbours change? Using Vis/NIR spectroscopy, we measured 14 leaf traits from ~5000 leaves 🌿 across diversity levels. doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

🚨 New paper led by @michakoehlerbotany.bsky.social in @ecol-evol.bsky.social‬ 🍃 We found that the communities of foliar endophytic fungi are driven by leaf traits and intraindividual trait variability 🧵 doi.org/10.1002/ece3... @treedi.bsky.social @geobotanymluhalle.bsky.social (1/7)

Busy making needle imprints and diving into stomatal worlds under the microscope 🔬🌲 Measuring stomatal size and density — still amazed by the incredible variation, even among conifers! #ARBOfun #stomata #conifer #drought #forest

🌳 Tree placement matters! A new study shows forests with diverse, non-clustered species boost biomass (+11%), nutrient cycling and decomposition. 🛠️ Line planting = sweet spot between ecology and management. 🔗 www.nature.com/articles/s41... www.idiv.de/the-right-mi...

Are you interested in #forest microclimate, biodiversity and ecosystem functioning? 🌲🌳🌡️ 🗞️In our new study we show: Tree diversity increases #forest temperature buffering🗞️ doi.org/10.1111/ele.... /w @remybeugnon.bsky.social, @uni-freiburg.de, @unileipzig.bsky.social, @agwirthweigelt.bsky.social

Five months later, our trees have grown well, so we have finally planted them in our tubes. Stay tuned to see how our trees grow and resist pollution. @treedi.bsky.social

Such a great week with the #sTREND working group — lots of ideas on tree traits and neighbourhood diversity taking shape. 🌲🌳 Grateful to have been part of it! #FunctionalTraits #ForestDiversity @idiv-research.bsky.social

Into the canopy for tiny pores 🌲🔎 We sampled needles from 12 #conifer species at the arboretum #ARBOfun to study stomatal density and size. Looking forward to the lab work & to uncovering what these traits can reveal about tree drought responses in a changing climate. #stomata #drought #forest

Interested in how #forest #resilience to #drought depended on tree diversity and #mycorrhiza? The study by @lsachsenmaier.bsky.social in @journalofecology.bsky.social was just shortlisted for the Harper Prize🚨👏 Read more on the paper here👇 jecologyblog.com/2025/04/04/l...

We were also participating in the Long Night of Science last Friday, where we measured photosynthesis with visitors, were impressed by nematodes and fungi under the microscope, and surveyed plant preparations that were up to 60 years old. It was a great party!

Yesterday, our 2 TreeDì PhD students, Justus and Tibor, officially launched this year's tree diversity greenhouse experiment (autoclaving soil). Next week, we will start cultivating the plants. Stay tuned to follow the progress of the experiment! More information here: www.idiv.de/career/assoc...