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The rhizosphere priming effect (RPE) is increasingly being considered to be an important regulator of soil organic matter (SOM) decomposition and nutrient turnover, with potential importance for the global CO2 budget. As a result, studies on the RPE have rapidly increased in number over the last few years. Most of these experiments have been performed using unplanted soil as the control, which cou
Climate warming could destabilise the Earth's largest terrestrial store of reactive carbon (C), by accelerating the decomposition of soil organic matter. A third of that C store resides in the tropics. The potential for tropical soils to sequester C, or to act as an additional source of CO2, will depend on the balance of C inputs and outputs, mediated by the response of soil microbial communities
Soils harbor a vast diversity of soil microbiota, which play a crucial role in key ecosystem processes such as litter transformation and mineralization, but how complex plant-soil interactions shape the diversity and composition of soil microbiota remains elusive. We performed amplicon sequencing of DNA isolated from mineral topsoil of six common European trees planted in multi-site common garden
Ectomycorrhizal exploration types are commonly assumed to denote spatial foraging patterns and resource-related niches of extraradical mycelia. However, empirical evidence of the consistency of foraging strategies within exploration types is lacking. Here, we analysed ectomycorrhizal foraging patterns by incubating root-excluding ingrowth mesh bags filled with six different substrates in mature Pi
Individual plants can modify the microenvironment within their spatial neighborhood. However, the consequences of microenvironment modification for demography and species interactions remain unclear at the community scale. In a study of co-occurring alpine plants, we 1) determined the extent of species-specific microclimate modification by comparing temperature and soil moisture between vegetated
Håkan Wallander is a professor in Soil Biology and the reader is guided through the fascinating world below ground. The book has a free form and the author mixes scientific facts with personal stories from active research experiences and everyday life. The main focus is to make the reader aware of the vast biodiversity that exists in the soil, and to describe the important processes provided by th
The ratio of leaf carotenoid to chlorophyll (Car/Chl) is an indicator of vegetation photosynthesis, development and responses to stress. However, the correlation between Car and Chl, and their overlapping absorption in the visible spectral domain pose a challenge for optical remote sensing of their ratio. This study aims to investigate combinations of vegetation indices (VIs) to minimize the influ
The ecological effects of mass-flowering crops on pollinator abundance and species richness of neighbouring habitats are well established, yet the potential evolutionary consequences remain unclear. We studied effects of proximity to a mass-flowering crop on the pollination of local co-flowering plants and on patterns of natural selection on a pollination-generalised plant on the Tibetan Plateau.
Shuker points to some inconsistencies in my terminology about consequence laws in evolutionary biology, specifically that gene flow and recombination are not as easily classified as one gets the impression of after reading Sober (1984). I agree, and I also emphasize that evolutionary biology should not only focus on consequence laws, but also source laws arising from the ecological selective envir
The last decades have seen frequent calls for a more extended evolutionary synthesis (EES) that will supposedly overcome the limitations in the current evolutionary framework with its intellectual roots in the Modern Synthesis (MS). Some radical critics even want to entirely abandon the current evolutionary framework, claiming that the MS (often erroneously labelled “Neo-Darwinism”) is outdated, a
Vassiliki “Betty” Smocovitis has done a thorough and admirable job in highlighting the complex history the Modern Synthesis (MS) or the Evolutionary Synthesis (ES) as she prefers to call it. Her interesting contribution should hopefully increase awareness that the history of evolutionary biology is important even for researchers today who are mainly interested in solving practical questions of mor
Fragmentation of habitat, for example by intensive agricultural practices, can be detrimental to local biodiversity. However, it often remains unclear whether such biodiversity declines are caused by loss of habitat area or increased fragmentation, and how habitat quality factors into it. In our study system, vegetated vineyards are typically small, and isolated from one another, potentially limit
Adaptation to new ecological niches is known to spur population diversification and may lead to speciation if gene flow is ceased. While adaptation to the same ecological niche is expected to be parallel, it is more difficult to predict whether selection against maladaptive hybridization in secondary sympatry results in parallel divergence also in traits that are not directly related to the ecolog
Climate change is a pervasive threat to biodiversity. While range shifts are a known consequence of climate warming contributing to regional community change, less is known about how species’ positions shift within their climatic niches. Furthermore, whether the relative importance of different climatic variables prompting such shifts varies with changing climate remains unclear. Here we analysed
Premise: Flower phenotypes evolve to attract pollinators and to ensure efficient pollen transfer to and from the bodies of pollinators or, in self-compatible bisexual flowers, between anthers and stigmas. If functionally interacting traits are genetically correlated, response to selection may be subject to genetic constraints. Genetic constraints can be assessed by quantifying standing genetic var
The early career professionals in the field of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) face unique challenges and hurdles while establishing their careers in the field. The Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) has expanded the role of the early career section within the society to foster the careers of future CMR leaders. This paper aims to describe the obstacles and available oppo
The study presents a multi-proxy archive from hypersaline coastal Lake Chokrak in eastern Crimea, a steppe region which is particularly susceptible to moisture fluctuations. XRF, organic carbon and nitrogen, and palynological analyses are used to reconstruct the evolution of the lake and landscape development around it and to provide information about the driving forces behind those changes, such
