Mixtures of several forage-plant species systematically increase yields with lower fertiliser input. Higher temperatures enhance the benefits of these mixtures, making them a key component of climate-...

New research by Elaine Slooten from North-West University and the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. The photo above is of a subtropical grassland in South Africa in full bloom (photo by …

Graduate Student Position (M/F) in Parallel Evolution of Clonality in Angiosperms...

Most terrestrial plants are colonised by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi but vary in the degree to which they benefit from and depend on these fungi. Here we show that plants can make the interaction wi...

Using 63 globally distributed grassland and shrubland sites from the International Drought Experiment, this study identified plant traits linked to drought resistance after 1 year of extreme drought a...

Welcome! You are invited to join a meeting: The Soil Ecology Seminar Series - Microbial ecology. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the meeting.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi form widespread, ancient, and critically important symbioses with plants, but their functioning and beneficial effects are ...

The Bug-Network (BugNet) is a novel global collaborative research network that implements standardized consumer-reduction experiments in herbaceous- or shrub-dominated ecosystems to assess the impact...

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How tree diversity effects on ecosystem functioning vary along climatic gradients is unclear. Here, analysing data from 15 experimental forest sites, the authors show that tree growth responses to nei...

Variability in traits within species (intraspecific trait variability; ITV) has attracted increased interest in functional ecology, as it can profoundly influence the detection of functional trait pa....

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) are critical to native plant community ecology and influence plant invasions. Research has focused on nutritional benefits of AMF, although evidence shows that the...

Aim Dry grasslands are vulnerable to climate and land-use change. Increasing temperatures, drought, grazing cessation and nitrogen deposition can all result in shifts in grasslands' taxonomic and fu...

A large-scale tree diversity experiment reveals that early growth of trees is influenced by phytochemically mediated trophic interactions. Specifically, foliar chemical diversity is higher for trees ...

We are looking for a 2-year postdoctoral research fellow within the European Research Council project PlantSoilAdapt - “Eco-evolutionary dynamics in plant-soil interactions during land use transition:...

Plant traits are important for understanding community assembly and ecosystem processes, yet our understanding of intraspecific trait variation (ITV) is limited. This gap in our knowledge is partiall...

This research highlights the role of tree functional strategies and soil microbial community composition in influencing the ecosystem services of subtropical forests, and provides important informati...

Both clonal plant capabilities for physiological integration and common mycorrhizal networks (CMNs) formed by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) can influence the distribution of nutrients and growth...

Functional traits, notably leaf-related trade-offs, shape land-use impacts on stability drivers within and across trophic levels.

Tree growth is better explained by absorptive root traits than by transport root traits, highlighting that variation in absorptive roots affects the uptake of soil resources like nutrients and water, ...

A unified framework is presented that integrates observed spatial patterns of individual trees in forests with ecological processes into a novel coexistence theory.