💧 Last week, we measured the leaf water potential at the #Auwald #crane - key data for understanding the water status of trees and their responses to drought. #WaterPotential #Drought #ClimateResponse #Trait #Leipzig #CanopyCrane #Fieldwork

Big thanks to @idiv-research.bsky.social & the Early-Career Women in Science fund for a powerful afternoon: short talks and hands-on learning 🔍💡 Shout-out to our Prof. Dr. Alexandra Weigelt, who was among the contributing speakers!

Writing retreat recap: focused days drafting and revising, laptops, printed pages, evenings of hikes, games, and a campfire/BBQ. What a nice and productive week! 📝 🌲 🔥

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

🌱 #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

Back in the floodplain forest 🌳 We’re monitoring oak regeneration under different conditions. These seedlings are part of an experiment to better understand forest dynamics in changing environments. #Quercus #Leipzig #Floodplainforest #Oak #Regeneration 📍 Leipzig Auwald

📊 „Faktencheck Artenvielfalt“ is the first comprehensive report to show the actual state of biodiversity in Germany🌿. The full report has now been published in English! 📥Download for free here: www.feda.bio/faktencheck-en. Watch the full video: tinyurl.com/mps5vfhf #Biodiversity #research #factcheck

Very cool to see this coming together! 🌲🔬 Sampling from 12 conifer species at #ARBOfun – part of our trait campaign @idiv-research.bsky.social We are curious to see what stomata can tell us about drought responses! #conifers #stomataltraits #fieldtolab

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

I am very proud to share this conceptual work of the #sUnderfoot working group, supported by @idiv-research.bsky.social. We propose a new plant classification based on belowground persistence.

Last week we had our campaign for measuring leaf water potential - at 38°C outside – thank you, #Leipzig #Floodplainforest, for the shade! 🌳💧 #fieldwork #plantphysiology #heatwave #Auwald #Science #leafwaterpotential #AuwaldKran

We‘re excited which insights the campaign will bring! 👀🌿 #ecology #stomata #drought #tree #forest

🌙 We had a great #LongNightOfScience in Leipzig! Thanks to Annalena Lenk, Mathias Scholz (UFZ) & Stefan Alsheimer (City of Leipzig) for the inspiring Auwald walk & crane tour. And thanks to everyone who joined us! #Auwald #ScienceForAll #Leipzig

Come visit us and have a look on our project in the botanical garden for the #longnightofscience in #Leipzig! 🌿🍁🍃 #science #biodiversity #research #fun

🎉 Proud to share that our lab has achieved LEAF Gold Certification for sustainable lab practices! As part of the NachLabs project, we're committed to reducing environmental impacts in research. Learn more: www.ucl.ac.uk/sustainable/... #SustainableScience #LEAF #GreenLab

🌿 Fieldwork – Leipzig, Spring 2025 🌿 Pollen traps in the canopy, soil sensors in the arboretum – and a top team in action! Huge thanks to Ron, Tom, Lena, Daniel, Melanoie & Anneke – and everyone behind the scenes. #Fieldwork #Ecology #CanopyCrane #ARBOfun

Proud to share our new study on how functional traits shape 🌳 tree growth responses to consecutive hotter #droughts — led by Dr. Lena Kretz & Dr. Florian Schnabel (@mixedforests.bsky.social). Read more: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.... #Ecology #TreeGrowth #PlantBiology

New study led by Dr. Ingmar R. Staude: 🌿 Over 25% of #plant species with non-native populations are threatened in their native range — a #conservation paradox calling for smarter, balanced strategies. 🔗 nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

🔬 Exciting times in the lab! We’ve just installed our brand-new Unicube - an elemental analyzer – now being set up and tested. With it, we’ll be analyzing the carbon-to-nitrogen (C:N) ratio in roots and leaves to better understand plant nutrient dynamics. Stay tuned for first results! 🌱💡

🌿Grüner wird's nicht!🌿 Der Leipziger Pflanzenmarkt steht vor der Tür: Frühjahr: 03. & 04. Mai Herbst: 20. & 21. September Im Botanischen Garten der Universität Leipzig. Kommt vorbei und entdeckt Pflanzen & mehr! www.lw.uni-leipzig.de/botanischer-... #Leipzig #Pflanzenmarkt #Pflanzen🌿🪴🌸☀️

🎉Happy 5th Birthday to the Root Economics Space!🌱 This fun blog from our colleagues @joanabergmann.bsky.social and Elsa Matthus at the @zalf.bsky.social celebrates 5 years of the Root Economics Space-a framework that describes the diverse root strategies to grow and survive belowgrond. #Ecology

We are proud to share that the work of Christian Wirth on #global checklists of #Vascular #plant names published in @newphyt.bsky.social, has ranked in the top 10% of most-viewed papers published by the journal in 2023! 👏 Congratulations on this achievement! #TopViewedArticle #plantscience

Field season at the Arboretum Großpösna is in full swing! 🌿 Last week, our PhD candidate Michèle ter Huurne and colleagues collected soil samples. Big thanks to the Faculty of Physics & Earth System Sciences and the Institute of Geography for doing the soil core extractions! #Fieldwork #Ecology

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

🌳 For Leipzig Floodplain Forest Day: PhD candidate Annalena Lenk’s study on oak regeneration is now featured on @unileipzig.bsky.social & @idiv-research.bsky.social! 📄 doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2025.122678 🔗 uni-leipzig.de | idiv.de #ForestEcology #Leipzig

👉 Read the full article here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... #Stoichiometry #Biodiversity #Ecology

🎉 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...

👏 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...

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...

Christian Wirth and @jorimmarx.bsky.social presented the #FaktencheckArtenvielfalt at the #leipzigerbuchmesse last Friday together with Helge Bruelheide, Robert Paxton & Romy Zeiss. Thank you @unileipzig.bsky.social, @unihalle.bsky.social, @uni-jena.de ! #Buchmesse #Biodiversity #Leipzig

🌿 "Biodiversity can help protect the climate," says Christian Wirth at #DKK2025. Reaching the 30% GBF conservation target is key – but the remaining 70% of land also needs more biodiversity to fight climate change. 🔗 www.deutsches-klima-konsortium.de/news/pressem...

Great work! Read the full article here: www.nature.com/articles/s41... #floodplainforest #conservation #tree #forest #biodiversity

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

🌴🌳 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....

Congrats to these nice contributions! link.springer.com/article/10.1...

Our Research Group is now on LinkedIn 🌳🌱🍃. Follow us here www.linkedin.com/company/the-... for insights and timely updates. Thank you for your support! #AGWeigeltWirth #LinkedIn #LeipzigUniversity #Botany #Biodiversity #Ecology #Biology

We are happy to be part of the #BioSmoke project! Julia Olbrich from our team is exploring the #flammability and fire #emissions of various #tree-species based on their #leaf-traits. We are grateful for our close collaboration with @tropos-de.bsky.social and @dbfz.de in this exciting project

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

In our recent paper, Anvar Sanaei shows that root traits of 'absorptive fine roots' relate to tree growth! In fact, they are better predictors than traits of 'transport fine roots'. www.nature.com/articles/s42... But there is more to it... 🧵

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....

ARBOfun Meeting 2025 @iDiv – Thanks for your brilliant talks, the fruitful discussions, and two inspiring days! Exciting to see how our research evolves on this unique platform, where 100 different tree species grow side by side. #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...

It's harvest time! In our recent experiment, PhD candidate Srijna Saxena is testing how above- and belowground traits can help to improve our understanding of biodiversity effects on drought resistance and recovery.

The first chapter of our PhD student Leonardo Bassi is now published in @oikosjournal.bsky.social! We show that declining monoculture biomass over time (18 years!) is linked with root traits of the collaboration gradient and an aboveground trade-off in physical vs chemical defence.