Geobotany at MLU Halle

Finanzminister Michael Richter (links) und Wissenschaftsminister Armin Willingmann (rechts) überreichen den symbolischen Schlüssel für das sanierte Gebäude des Institutsbereichs Geobotanik an der Universität Halle an Rektorin Claudia Becker (Mitte). Sie stehen im Hörsaal vor versammelten Gästen.

Geobotaniker Helge Bruelheide (rechts) führte die Gäste durch den Forschungsneubau. Neben ihm stehen Kanzler Alfred Funk, Rektorin Claudia Becker und Wissenschaftsminister Armin Willingmann (von links).

Der Leiter des Herbariums Marcus Lehnert erklärte das Archiv des Herbariums bei einer Führung. Links neben ihm steht Wissenschaftsminister Armin Willingmann.

Wissenschaftsminister Armin Willingmann im Gespräch mit zwei Personen im weißen Kittel im Forschungsneubau.

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

🗝️ 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

Vier Personen führen in einem Wald in Italien eine Probenentnahme durch. Eine Person steht auf einer Leiter und greift in die Bäume, zwei weitere arbeiten am Boden mit Stangen, eine weitere Person beobachtet. Der Waldboden ist mit Ästen bedeckt, die Bäume tragen dichtes grünes Laub.

Peter Dietrich (links) und Doktorand Michael Köhler stehen im Labor.

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

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.

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

A group of us is currently in Freiburg to take samples from the IDENT experiment. Research question: how does tree species diversity, the holobiome of trees and secondary metabolites influence each other?

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

What actually lives in green roof substrate? Curious about what we, the "Biodiversity" team, is studying on the UFZ green roof (and other green roofs in Leipzig/Halle)? Check out the latest UFZ Green Roof Newsletter for all the details: www.ufz.de/export/data/...
@ufz.de @unihalle.bsky.social

Foliar Endophytic Fungal Communities Are Driven by Leaf Traits—Evidence From a Temperate Tree Diversity Experiment Our study demonstrates that functional leaf traits play a crucial role in shaping fungal endophyte richness and community composition, even beyond the effects of tree species identity. Traits associa...

🚨 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)

🟢 Most traits responded strongly to light
🌈 …but also to who was growing next door & how rich the neighbourhood was 👀

🚨 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....

📉 Tougher, carbon-rich leaves = less fungal richness
📈 Higher SLA & phosphorus = more fungal richness
✨ More variation = more fungi
-> Our study highlights that fungi respond not just to the host is, but how its leaves function; and vary.

Foliar Endophytic Fungal Communities Are Driven by Leaf Traits—Evidence From a Temperate Tree Diversity Experiment Our study demonstrates that functional leaf traits play a crucial role in shaping fungal endophyte richness and community composition, even beyond the effects of tree species identity. Traits associa...

🚨 Doctoral Student Paper Alert 🚨
🌿🍄 What shapes fungal endophyte diversity inside tree leaves? We found that leaf traits, both their average values and variation within a single tree, strongly influence foliar fungal endophyte communities. doi.org/10.1002/ece3...

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

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!

Happy that one of this year's 23 doctoral students is one of us. We will be investigating whether more diverse forests can defend themselves better?! (research on the effects of tree diversity on secondary metabolites in Germany and globally). Stay tuned 🥳

PhD Student Publication Alert 🚨 Tree diversity boosts phyllosphere fungal richness—mainly driven by epiphytes. Endophytes, in contrast, showed no response to tree richness. Not just tree species, but also their mycorrhizal type and mixtures shape foliar fungal communities. doi.org/10.1016/j.fu...

Excited to see our paper now published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social ! 🎉
doi.org/10.1111/2041...

Part of our working group is currently in Sardinia. For two-thirds of the day it’s work, work, work; and the rest is spent enjoying the amazing nature, delicious food, and beautiful weather! 😎

Last week was an outstanding one for us: Lina submitted her PhD thesis and Pablo @castretis.bsky.social defended his thesis excellently. This was the first PhD defence in our beautifully renovated lecture hall in the Botanical Garden. Congratulations to you both! You did a fantastic job! 🥳🎉🥂

This week we identified fungal fruiting bodies from the #MyDiv tree diversity experiment, and found an impressive richness. One of our highlights is Dissoderma odoratum growing as a parasite on a Hebeloma mesophaeum fruiting body. Very rare and endangered! Nature is an incredible thing!

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...

Preprint alert!🚨 You want biomass data without clipping the vegetation? Use your smartphone for a 3D scan! In our manuscript you get instructions & a complete Jupyter notebook for immediate use! doi.org/10.32942/X2T... 🪴+📱=💚 #biodiversity #ecology #globalchange #photogrammetry

Hi, we are the Geobotany group at the MLU Halle. We are interested in everything that has to do with plants 🪴, especially plant ecology, biogeography, invasion biology, BEF relationships and plant-soil interactions. Stay tuned and find out about our latest publications, excursions and other updates.