"Understanding leaf variability within tree species" 🍃🌿🍂 I wrote a "behind the paper" post talking about our recent paper in @natcomms.nature.com communities.springernature.com/posts/unders...

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? 🧵

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...

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/...

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.

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/...

Super excited to see that the last chapter of my PhD on root trait - ecosystem functioning relationships is now published in @newphyt.bsky.social! nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

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

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

Root shrinkage measurements of 40 #tree species at #ARBOfun completed! We've measured root #shrinkage, to understand #root-soil contact under #drought. The campaign was led by Dr. Anvar Sanaei with great support of our technician Nicole Nabel. Excited to see the results! #RootTraits #PlantScience

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

16 April is the day when Leipzig celebrates its floodplain forest – and fittingly, a new paper by Annalena Lenk @agwirthweigelt.bsky.social shows how the current tree dieback combined with the thinning of certain understorey species, can support oak regeneration.🌳🍃 www.idiv.de/experiment-i...

Congratulations to iDiv’s founding director Christian Wirth!🥂 Yesterday, he received the member certificate of the Academy of Sciences @leopoldina.org - a high scientific honour.👏 Read more (in German): www.idiv.de/de/christian... @agwirthweigelt.bsky.social @unileipzig.bsky.social #iDivImpact

🌍 Ever wondered what life is made of - literally? We just launched StoichLife, a global dataset of the elemental building blocks of life across nearly 6,000 species! 🌱🐟 Spanning land, water, and sea, it opens up new insights into how organisms are shaped by their environments 🏜️🏔️🌊 #stoichiometry

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...

👏 And also congrats to @karlandraczek.bsky.social! His paper on #biodiversity – #productivity relationships in managed #grasslands was as well shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize! 🌱 Read more on the Journal of Ecology blog: jecologyblog.com/2025/04/02/k...

🎉 Congrats to our PhD student @lsachsenmaier.bsky.social, whose paper on #forest #growth #resistance & #resilience to drought was shortlisted for the 2024 Harper Prize! 🌳 Read more on the Journal of Ecology blog: jecologyblog.com/2025/04/04/l...

New paper by our PhD student Annalena Lenk in #Forest #Ecology and Management: #Climate change-induced tree mortality can promote #oak regeneration in #floodplain forests – if flood-intolerant maple species are selectively removed. #Biodiversity #Research sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

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

🌴🌳 Tree species richness increases climate buffering 🌡️🥵 I am so happy to share our latest piece, now published in Ecology Letters! onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Very cool paper reviewing how the Root Economics Space advances our understanding of fine-root functioning 🫚🌾☀️ It was a great pleasure to work with such an amazing team of coauthors, especially the fantastic lead team @elsaelsam.bsky.social , @joanabergmann.bsky.social

We're pleased to announce the shortlist for this year's Harper Prize. 🏆 Each year, we award the Harper Prize to the best paper in the journal by an early career author. See the full list here:

This has definitely been an adventure! 🥾 On Friday, after some years working on my PhD, I defended my thesis. And having the chance to give this step surrounded by colleagues, friends and family has been something “unbeleafable” 🍃

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

Interested in #forest restoration and #carbon sequestration? 🚨 In our new study in @globalchangebio.bsky.social we show that 🌳 Tree diversity 🌲 increases carbon stocks and fluxes in a tropical forest experiment. #TreeDivNet, @uni-freiburg.de onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Really enjoyed the ARBOfun meeting @iDiv! Always a pleasure to exchange ideas in such a unique setting — happy to be part of this community! #ARBOfun

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...

Intraspecific and intraindividual trait variability decrease with tree species richness in a subtropical tree biodiversity experiment https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.11.24.625116v1