Even though transience is part of lab culture, it’s still hard to say goodbye. This summer we bid adieu to long-time lab manager Elizabeth Huenupi, long-time tech Zoe Worman & (sort of) long-time post-doc Daniel Beverly. We will miss (but not forget) you. You’ll bring awesomeness to your next stops!

🚨Interested in plants, microbes & biogeochemistry? If yes, ya'll have 2d to submit your abstract to our session "B088: The Effect of Plant Communities and Their Microbial Associations on Soil Biogeochemistry" agu.confex.com/agu/agu25/b/pa… Convened by @carboncaitlin Amelia Fitch & me

Does a plane 1/3 of rhizosphere scientists constitute a rhizoplane? So long Edinburgh - thanks for a great week!! #Rhizosphere6

Exciting new work from the amazin’ @BeidlerKatilyn, @UMNFuN and others. Much of the OM that “sticks” to minerals comes from dead fungi. But what controls formation rates: input chemistry, mineral reactivity or microbes involved in hyphal decay? authors.elsevier.com/c/1l7Zt8g13f...

This took a minute but excited to share it now link.springer.com/10.1007/s004... Trees get N by resorbing from foliage & foraging in soil - but are the two coordinated? We tested hypotheses about relationships between resorption & root production for 12 spp in mature forests & 9 spp in a garden.

Today, oh today, I did something indeed. Read The Lorax to second graders, who were grateful I’d agreed. They sat on the floor in rapt attention, as we traveled to Thneedville, belief in suspension Smiles became frowns as the tale turned dark, but when we reached the end, I could see the spark!

NSF employees coordinate grant programs, organize and run panels that award grants, and work with awardees to ensure progress, among other functions. Reducing staffing at NSF will not make it more efficient, it will further burden already overburdened employees, making NSF less efficient.

Review in Nature Case et al. Fungal impacts on Earth’s ecosystems www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Hmm, this seems prescient (in last week’s Science)

Agriculture has a N problem. N fuels growth, but too much N pollutes air & water. Here we argue for focusing on internal microbial N cycling - and not merely N inputs. Fun collaboration w/ @stuartsoil.bsky.social, @andreajilling.bsky.social & several others. authors.elsevier.com/c/1kIZ79C~Iu...

Come visit us in Vienna! Submit your abstract to the EGU session BG3.13: Mycorrhizal fungi in forest ecosystems. I am happy to be working with Matthias Mayer and Eva Demullier to create an unforgettable session! meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio...

Thanks #AGU24 algorithm for suggesting that I connect next week w/ @benbondlamberty.bsky.social & Nate McDowell. Any chance we can use some of our registration fees to buy a few drinks?

Thought-provoking Tansley about source v sink limitation of tree growth by Trugman & L Anderegg. Strong evidence both are important, not unlike the age-old Q of bottom up v top down controls on energy-nutrient flows. For C cyclists, certainly worth a read nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

fascinating new work from the lab of @frantecol.bsky.social www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Welcome to WA on Bluesky as requested by you xx 'Breathing Space' by Janis Goodman

Buried paleosols hold a LOT of #Carbon. What happens when they are exposed? McMurtry et al. show “paleosols defy expectations of C content and reactivity” Getting to the root of the problem: Soil carbon and microbial response... www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

Do you study how microbial growth and death drive soil organic matter cycling? Submit your work to our #EGU25 session SSS4.10/BG6.7: meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EGU25/sessio... 👉 Travel support: Dec 1st 👉 Abstracts due: Jan 15th

I started this in 2017, but this forever paper is finally done! Eastern US forests are shifting to more mesic species and the climate is expected to get drier. The two combined indicate drought will have a bigger impact in the carbon budget in the future. 🧪🌳 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Important question (on my first day here). Greatest song referencing blue sky/skies: 1) Blue Sky (Allman Bros) 2) Mr Blue Sky (ELO) 3 Goodbye Blue Sky (Floyd)

Aha - a useful for role for AI finally! But who funded the research? How do we know the peer reviewers were not bots? And who wrote the training algorithms for the LLM GPT-4 Turbo? Durably reducing conspiracy beliefs through dialogues with AI | Science

Tree-myco types differ in nutrient use traits but do they differ in hydraulic traits? Biogeographic patterns of dominance (AM in tropics, ECM in boreal) often track precipitation gradients, which could lead to diffs in drought tolerance traits

With @ICOM_12 and @ESA2024 being 8 time zones apart (but during the same week), the steady stream of content has been fun to follow. Though having a bit of FOMO too…#ICOM2024

Fun times in Btown celebrating three birthdays (7/29), two Kimberly Ann(e)s, three of my fav women in science and of course, friends and family @rosvall_lab @Novick_Lab @DrBioGC @JPWrightEcology

Pt 1 of summer tour - Germany is in the books! Delightful time & fun convos abt roots, fungi, soils, music, art, politics & bier w/ Ina Meier lab (Hamburg), #ISRR24 attendees & @Eisenhauerlab @iDiv (Leipzig - the birthplace of myco fungi!). Special thx to Ina & Nico. On to Berlin

Great leaders lead to great science. Tim Fahey was a tremendous scholar teacher, mentor & colleague, whose impact on our field was profound. Yesterday, we celebrated his career with stories, pics and hike @HubbardBrookNH. While Tim will be missed, his legacy lives on #FaheyFest

Collaborations make us smarter & lead to better science (imo). Many thanks to SERC collabs for hosting 2d of data & ideas. From 300yr-old tulips to 11yr-old BiodiversiTrees to lone handkerchief tree (& forest orchids) - we saw it all. Hard to beat science, schnitzel & crab cakes!

Before we invoke 'carbon mineralization' as a nature-based climate solution, can we clear up this one thing: Geochemists: conversion of CO2 to carbonate rocks (slows CC) Biogeochemists (& microbial ecologists): conversion of organic C to CO2 (accelerates CC) Just a thought..

Wow, surreal & breathtaking @ Stillwater marsh. As totality approached, temps dropped & darkness descended. Cavity-nesting swallows were silenced & bolted for the canopy; peepers & frogs chorused loudly; and then came owls and a coyote - hootin’ and howlin’. And jaws dropped!

Such fun convos with grads, postdocs & PIs from labs of @akeiserecology, @kristenobacter and (Rachel) Hestrin (and others @Stockbridge_Sch). I learned a ton. Special thanks to Ray Cancel Vasquez for hosting and organizing. Black Francis was right about UMass “It’s Educational!”

Nine yrs ago we ran a workshop in Amsterdam to consider what roots & MF do in ecosystems, and how to model this. So much amazing research since then! Sometimes you just need to plant the seed/bury the spore.. @ColleenIversen @aimeeclassen Sir David Read, Nadia Soudzilovskaia 1/2

Thanks @PeteHomyak for hosting me at @UCRiverside. Fun chats with/ @M_J_Spasojevic @harmstk @gdjecology, Mike & Edie Allen (& many others). Sunrise run up Rubidoux and lodging at Mission Inn were also highlights. Nice to be reminded: so much nitrogen, so little time…

Many good climate resources available but one that I've found interesting (& good for diverse audiences) is from UNH (emeritus) prof of earth systems John Aber. New substack entries can be emailed to you. Why Was 2023 So Much Warmer Than Any Other Year?

w/ Arctic air leaving central US next week, let's talk spring! A total solar eclipse (April) & two periodical cicada emergences (May). If in s. MO or IL you get both! Curious about impacts on plants & soils? @DanPBeverly is on it!

Lab meeting this week got a little heated, as teams shaded out each other’s trees; but, we grew a nice forest with C-rich soil in the board-game Photosynthesis @502rules @DanPBeverly @nambiar_ashish @nicole_spanier @Max_P_Scheel

I feel seen (and don’t worry, it’s not from today)

This one took some time but delighted to share it now. Biogeochemical effects of a forest understory plant invasion depend more on dissimilar nutrient economies than invader biomass @LYPodz @cathyfahey_eco @marissaruthlee @lflory @JPWrightEcology 1/

Deleting emails when 172 people use “reply all”

Reason #6347 to halt climate change in its tracks

UNH is a special place. Great people doing amazing research, amidst a gorgeous backdrop of mountains & water. Thx Thomas Muratore for hosting my visit & fun chats @seritafrey @sgrandysoil @ScottOllinger @nhfunguy2 Heidi Asbjornsen, Jason Demers, David Moore & Matt Vadeboncoeur

Can we all agree that filling out 'When Is Good' or 'When 2 Meet' polls - w/ hundreds of empty cells - is a not the best use of time? Just filled out the 4th one this week. At least with Doodle polls, one can see which cells are being filled by others and try to select those.

Finally figured out how to sync Google (main) and Outlook (mostly meeting invites) calendars. It's always the little things...

Must-read for plant ecologists & global change biologists! On the science legacy of Phil Grime - reflections from eminent ecologists: Chapin, Crawley, De Deyn, Díaz, Grace, Grubb, Harrison, Lavorel, Liu, Pierce, Schmid, Stevens, Wardle & Westoby. So good

#ESA2023 Interested in myco fungi, forests and nutrient cycling? Ever wonder if variation in small understory trees matters for BGC? Does it make sense to count all stems down to 1cm? Come check out this poster by talented (former undergrad) Adam Weiler.

#ESA2023 Two exciting talks this afternoon about root exudation - back to back but in adjacent rooms.

People arriving at PDX-the light rail that normally takes you to Gateway is down. There’s a bus that can take you there, but it’s not a short ride from the airport. And then you still need the train. Ride share - esp if you have > 1 in your party - might be the way to go #ESA2023

Psammophile. What a great word for the summer. Does that make people who dislike the beach psammophilistines?

Cool paper for those interested in continental soil N drivers & challenges with spatio-temp scaling of soil pools-fluxes (and generating standardized datasets).

Thanks @DukesJeff for a wonderful visit at Carnegie-Stanford-Jasper Ridge. Delightful convos about forests, fungi and soil C with @mykophile @PellitierPeter and so many others.

True story: As a grad student at #HBEF in the late 90s, I heard a PI say about PhD student @DrBioGC “she’ll be in the National Academy by the time she’s 40”. Don’t remember who said it but could have been any of us. Congrats on being inducted, even if a few yrs late! #NAS160

#ESA2023 - it's on! Can't wait to see everyone in Portland