In this new post, Lu Wang, a Ph.D. student from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, discusses her recently published paper, “Divergent microbial phosphorous acquisition strategies between active layer and permafrost deposits on the Tibetan Plateau”. She delves into the research gap regarding phosphorus cycle in permafrost soils, highlights the challenges associated with measuring phosphorus acquisition strategies and shares her fascination for ..read more

Els van de Zande – a post-doc at Wageningen University, the Netherlands – presents her work ‘Enhanced parasitisation of caterpillars and aphids on field-grown Brassica oleracea plants upon soil amendment with insect exuviae’. She discusses how belowground changes can affect aboveground tri-trophic interactions, highlights a silver lining of the Covid-19 lockdowns and makes the case for investing time in volunteer work. About the paper Our ..read more

In this new post Kaz Uyehara, postdoc researcher at UC Davies, presents his work ‘Neighbour-detection causes shifts in allocation across multiple organs to prepare plants for light competition’. He explains how plants need to take critical decisions, shares his expertise about setting experiments and shows how it is possible to combine multiple passions, and even make a living out of it! About the paper Plants ..read more

In our last post Kerstin Pierick, postdoc at the University of Göttingen, discusses her last PhD thesis chapter ‘Above- and belowground strategies of tropical montane tree species are coordinated and driven by small-scale nitrogen availability’. She presents her astonishing study system, discusses the connection between environment and traits and remembers the importance of changing the point of view to understand nature.  A Spanish translation of ..read more

En nuestro último post, la postdoc Kerstin Pierick de la Universidad de Göttingen presenta el último capítulo de su tesis doctoral ‘Las estrategias aéreas y subterráneas de las especies arbóreas montanas tropicales están coordinadas e impulsadas por la disponibilidad de nitrógeno a pequeña escala’. Kerstin presenta su impresionante sistema de estudio, discute la conexión entre ambiente y rasgos, y nos recuerda la imporatncia de cambiar ..read more

In this new post, Professor Xiaojuan Feng from the Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences presents her work ‘Does microbial carbon use efficiency differ between particulate and mineral-associated organic matter?’ She compares the microbial carbon use efficiency (CUE) in particulate organic matter (POM) and mineral-associated organic matter (MAOM), which represents different soil functional pools with varied organic matter composition and nutrient availability. A Chinese ..read more

In our latest post Valentin Graf, PhD student at the Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre in Frankfurt, presents his work ‘Individual behavior shapes patterns of bird-mediated seed dispersal’. He discusses the importance of moving from species to individual scale in ecology, shares how he overcame setbacks at the beginning of the research project, and shows how leaving the ground can help doing fieldwork.  About ..read more

In this post, Yongqiang Zhang—a PhD student at Peking University—shares his recently published paper: “Functional diversity of neighbors mediates sap flow density and radial growth of focal trees, but in different ways between evergreen and deciduous broadleaved species”. He underscores the importance of this research in advancing forest management practices by regulating species composition in the neighborhood, which can reduce water consumption by trees while ensuring forest growth and improving water use efficiency. Additionally, he shares his research experiences and encourages young colle ..read more

In this blog post, Lucie Kuczynski – a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Oldenburg, Germany – presents her research “Functional diversity loss and taxonomic delays of European freshwater fish and North American breeding birds“. She talks about identifying delays in changes of functional diversity, the usefulness of open data, and the importance of seeking support. About the Paper The pace of change in diversity is accelerating. In a previous study, we demonstrated that these rates of change may be underestimated. In addition to the aforementioned misestimation, the pace of diversity cha ..read more

In this new post, Masayoshi Hiraiwa – postdoctoral researcher at Kindai University – presents his work ‘Loss of functional diversity rather than species diversity of pollinators decreases community‐wide trait matching and pollination function’. He discusses the importance of functional traits on biotic interactions, the challenge of finding proper study sites, and his interest in less studied pollination groups.   A Japanese translation of this blog post is available here! About the Paper  Large and long-tongued insects such as bumblebees and butterflies are essential pollinator ..read more