@spununderground #UnderEarthDay logo 2026
Beneath our feet lies a living world that sustains ecosystems, regulates climate, and supports all life above ground. This #UnderEarthDay, let’s recognize the hidden biodiversity of soils and the critical role of underground ecosystems in a changing world. Protecting what we don’t see! @spun.earth
Tree characteristics change in mixed forests, leading to more wood production than in single-species plantations🌳
buff.ly/GcBwwGA
🧪🌍️
Euasian-root secondees in Brno, CZ on April 17 2026 (Scientifc cafe)
The "Scientific Café" of the Spring Secondees of the EuAsiaN-ROOT Network, consisting of staff from #MULS #Mongolia, #KU #Thailand, and #MENDELU #Czechia. It was a productive day to reflect on the achievements of the 1. year and discuss the tasks ahead. Thanks @excellentia.bsky.social for organizing
Time series plots comparing in situ soil moisture at −7–28 cm with multiple remote sensing/model products across different depths and ecosystems (forest and grassland). The figure illustrates product-specific deviations and uncertainties, emphasizing variability in soil moisture representation through the soil profile. - work in progress
#Soil #moisture is strongly depth-dependent—and so is plant water supply. Across ecosystem we (Marian Schönauer / me) highlight: #SMAP L4, #ERA5-Land shows substantial divergence vs in situ observations across #depths.
Moving beyond surface estimates ... #SoilMoisture #Ecohydrology #Root
Dear colleagues, please find below attached the invitation to the online lecture The AmazonFACE experiment is about to start! Hypotheses generated from previous FACE experiments delivered by Richard Norby (University of Tennessee, USA) When: 1 April 2026 at 16:00 CET / CEST (GMT+1/+2) Online: via Zoom Join Zoom Meeting https://cesnet.zoom.us/j/99692171285?pwd=zUEjygILVoUv0cnzTAXSKaj5c0Uazx.1 Meeting ID: 996 9217 1285 Passcode: 589224 The lecture is held within the frame of „The Challenges in Forest Ecology“ seminar series featuring top scientists from around the world. It provides a unique opportunity to discuss the state of the art in forest ecology from different perspectives and approaches with the leading experts in the field. For more information, please see the attached invitation or visit the EXCELLENTIA project website https://excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/seminar-series We look forward to seeing you on 1 April 2026 at 16:00. The EXCELLENTIA team.
🚨Join us on Wednesday, 1. April 2026, 16:00 CET (Prague) for🧪 #forest🍁#ecology #seminar. Welcome Richard Norby, U Tennessee 🌳🌲'The AmazonFACE experiment is about to start! Hypotheses generated from previous #FACE experiments' ZOOM: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/SEMINAR-SERIES
Great guy, important topic ... Lars Vesterdal, University of Copenhagen - 🧪🍁 Soil and ecosystem carbon sequestration over 50 years in resampled oak and Norway spruce afforestation chronosequences on former cropland. -When: Wednesday 11 February 16.00 CET. ZOOM:
cesnet.zoom.us/j/9212345086...
🚨Join us on Wednesday, 11. February 2026, 16:00 CET (Prague) for🧪 #forest🍁#ecology #seminar. Welcome Lars Vesterdal, U Copenhagen 🌳🌲'Soil and ecosystem C sequestration over 50 years in resampled oak and Norway spruce afforestation chronosequences on former cropland' ZOOM: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/SEMINAR-SERIES
🚨Join us on Wednesday, 11. February 2026, 16:00 CET (Prague) for🧪 #forest🍁#ecology #seminar. Welcome Lars Vesterdal, U Copenhagen 🌳🌲'Soil and ecosystem C sequestration over 50 years in resampled oak and Norway spruce afforestation chronosequences ...' ZOOM: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/SEMINAR-SERIES
🚨EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION EXTENDED until 15. FEBRUARY🚨 for the 9th International 🧪 Symposium on Woody Root Research! 🌳🍁 Please register/submit at wrix.favmeeting.it, conference website www.uninsubria.eu/woody-roots-ix Abstract deadlines: 31. March for oral (selected), 30. April for posters!
We appreciate the scientific clarity from @markuseichhorn.bsky.social 🌳
Evidence matters when scaling forest restoration approaches, this review is a valuable contribution.
Read more forestry science in the Journal of Forestry Research: link.springer.com/journal/11676
#Forestryresearch #JFR 🍁🌺🌱🌿
Figure 5, showing a Peatland in Salzburg (state), Austria (at an elevation of 1800 m) according to official biotope mappings (Table 1; dark blue line in A). It was used as training data for modelling peatlands. Raster predictions of true values (S1+S2+terrain) are illustrated by a light blue outline. The yellow dashed area indicates the absence of predicted peatland, including within the 200 m buffer zone (cropped on image in and S directions). Gaps in the shading are caused by missing Satellite data; GPS position is given. Historical orthophotos from 2007, 2012, and 2024 show the disturbance of the peatland caused by the construction of a road and a network of ditches (B-D) From preprint: Alpine peatlands: a multisensory pipeline allows for harmonised detection and reveals widespread degradation in the European Alps. Available from: https://zenodo.org/records/17899243
🚨Alpine #peatlands 🚨 punch above their extend for #carbon & #biodiversity, but many are degraded. 🧪Using Sentinel-1/2 + terrain data, we map peatlands in the #European-Alps and flag hotspots where maps and nodels diverge, guiding targeted monitoring. Read preprint at doi.org/10.5281/zeno...
Invitation poster for a talk on Wednesday, 21. January 2026, 16:00 CET (Prague) in the🧪 #forest🍁#ecology #seminar at MENDELU, BRNO. Anouncing Boris Rewald from the Mendel University to talk about 🌲'Mixed #tree #plantations: the good, the plastic and the uncertain' - with a lot of #root #plasticity. free availabile via ZOOM at the link https://excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/SEMINAR-SERIES
🚨Join us on Wednesday, 21. January 2026, 16:00 CET (Prague) for🧪 #forest🍁#ecology #seminar. Welcome our own @borisrewald.bsky.social (MENDELU) 🌳🌲'Mixed #tree #plantations: the good, the plastic and the uncertain' - with a lot of #root #plasticity... ZOOM: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/SEMINAR-SERIES
Crib in forest.
Seasonal Greetings!
🚨REGISTRATION & ABSTRACT SUBMISSION OPEN 🚨 for the 9th International 🧪 Symposium on Woody Root Research! 🌳Please register/submit at wrix.favmeeting.it. Early bird registration ends on 1. February 2026. Abstract deadlines: 31. March for potential oral presentations (selected), 30. April for posters.
Fig. 3. Standardized effects of climatic, edaphic, and vegetation variables on the net diversity effect on topsoil C stocks (NDE C) across nine sites (n = 110) on a logarithmic scale (first y-axis; left) and natural scale (second y-axis; right). Error bars denote standard errors. Climatic variables include mean annual temperature (MAT), mean annual precipitation (MAP), as well as variability in temperature and precipitation (interannual CV). Edaphic variables include the inverted first principal component axis for soil pH and C:N ratio (Fertility index) as well as soil texture (based on clay content). Effects of standing stock is represented by basal area per hectare (BA ha-1). Significant effects on NDE C are indicated as *** = p 0.05, n.s. = not significant. Values below 0 indicate negative correlation between NDE C and predictors. see Werner R, Jensen J, Fransson P, Baum C, Sandén H, Rewald B, Godbold DL, Mayer M, Guillemot J, Robin A, Brancalion PHS, Koricheva J, Ponette Q, Muys B, Verheyen K, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Bauhus J, Beyer F, Hajek P, Jactel H, Weih M (2025) Effects of tree species richness on topsoil carbon and fungal diversity in European planted mixed forests are modulated by environmental conditions. Geoderma 464:117591. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117591 for details
🚨New paper in Geoderma🚨 Across 9 #TreeDivNet 🧪experiments in Europe, we show that mixed-species 🍁 #forests 🌳🌲store ~9% more #soilcarbon than monocultures. Gains are strongest on cool, <fertile, #climate stable sites, and linked to >fungal richness. #soilcarbon 👉 doi.org/10.1016/j.ge...
Invitation poster to the international conference ‘Soil Cities’ organised by the School of Architecture at City University of Applied Sciences Bremen on 20–21 November 2025 at the Altes Fundamt in Bremen. The conference is dedicated to soil-sensitive architecture and urban design and brings together international experts from the fields of architecture, landscape architecture, soil and forestry science, as well as ethnology, urban research, art and education to focus on soil as a living habitat and the basis for sustainable and climate-adapted cities. Programme: www.soilcities.org Venue: Alten Fundamt, Auf der Kuhlen 1a, 28203 Bremen The conference language is English (with German on Friday). It is recognized by the Bremen Chamber of Architects and the Bremen Chamber of Engineers as a continuing education event. The conference is funded by the BMTFR as part of the ‘HAW-Europa Netzwerke’ programme.
Excited to be participating in the conference 'Soil Cities' on #soil-sensitive architecture and #urban planning. #greeninfrastructure #urbandevelopment, 20–21 November 2025, Altes Fundamt, Bremen. We'll explore how #healthy #soils can shape #climate-resilient #cities. See you at:
www.soilcities.org
Sustainable Water Management and Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure for Advancing Sponge City Perspectives in Bosnia and Herzegovina . Participants of workshop on tree stability lead by Ludek Praus, MendelU, CZ
Sustainable Water Management and Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure for Advancing Sponge City Perspectives in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Lecture on urban green infrastucture by Boris Rewald, MENDELU, CZ
Sustainable Water Management and Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure for Advancing Sponge City Perspectives in Bosnia and Herzegovina - Lecture on Strategic urban greening starts with tree inventories: a case study of Sarajevo by Alma Hajrudinović-Bogunić, UNSA-SFSA Mirza Dautbašić, UNSA-SFSA, Dženan Bećirović, UNSA-SFSA
Sustainable Water Management and Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure for Advancing Sponge City Perspectives in Bosnia and Herzegovina, workshop on Modeling water balance components - inclusive remote sensing by Marian Schönauer, MENDELU and Ismet Fazlić, UNSA
A look back at the very engaging and productive💧🏙️SPONGE-City BiH conference bit.ly/47apbZx where we
brought together experts from MendelU CZ and UNSA BiH on #Water Manag. & #Urban #Blue-Green 🌳 Infrastr. for #Sponge Cities. Thank you to all who participated & special thanks to Prof. Emira Hukic🧪
Join us on Wednesday, 5 November 2025, 16:00 CEST (Prague) for our 🧪 #forest🍁#ecology seminar. Welcome Francis Martin (INRAE Nancy, France) on 'Into the Heart of Darkness - #Genomics🧬 #Saptrotrophy-to-Symbiosis 🌳Forest #Soil #Fungioom' 🍄 ZOOM: https://excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/SEMINAR-SERIES. Free. Q&A. Holds the excellentia logo, a qr code and reference to funding bodies.
🚨Join us on Wednesday, 5 November 2025, 16:00 CEST (Prague) for🧪 #forest🍁#ecology #seminar. Welcome Francis M. Martin @fmartin54.bsky.social (INRAE Nancy) 'Into the Heart of Darkness - #Genomics🧬 #Saptrotrophy-to-Symbiosis 🌳Forest #Soil #Fungioom' 🍄 ZOOM: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/SEMINAR-SERIES
Cover Page EuAsiaN-ROOT deliverable 1.2. l Handbook on site selection
Big 🧪milestone for #EuAsiaN-ROOT 🌍🌳
We built a #Eurasia wide #forest-soil research #network—28 core sites (18 running) + satellite plots across CZ, DE, IT, KZ, MN, TH, with shared protocols & FAIR data to unlock #belowground insights at AM/EM #mycorrhiza #root contrast. euasianroot.ldf.mendelu.cz
🚨Publication ALERT🚨 #Root #phenology in mixed 🍁 #forests 🧪2-yr study (oak, hornbeam, lime, maple): roots start > leaves; maple, hornbeam peak < oak, lime; #mixing mirrors dominant sp; leaf–root lag; winter growth at 4.2 °C; temp link flips; Qiwen Guo et al. 2025, Funct Ecol 👉 doi.org/10.1111/1365...
🚨Publication alert🚨Across 21 #forest 🧪🍁 experiments (84k #trees, 89 spp.), productivity ⬆️ with🌳 #richness (saturating) and variability ⬇️. #Functionaldiversity mediated gains; #structuraldiversity trended ⬇️. Selection effects dominate. Acquisitive, low-WD species benefited. doi.org/10.1111/gcb....
🚨Publication alert🚨 #Forest 🌳 #diversity ≠ automatic #drought resilience. Across #treedivnet 🧪🍁experiments, single-year drought growth reflected #trees’ #hydraulic safety margins & drought intensity, not richness. In consecutive droughts, div effects grew—direction varied by site. #Traits matter.
Symbolbild: Die Hand eines Holocaust-Überlebenden mit tätowierter Häftlingsnummer hält die Hand eines jungen Palästinensers. Im Hintergrund leuchtet eine Kerze zwischen Davidstern und palästinensischer Flagge – Zeichen von Erinnerung, Mitgefühl und Hoffnung auf Frieden. Bild: ChatGPT/KGS IAK Berlin https://auschwitz.info/de/presse/pressemitteilungen/presseinfo-einzeln/lesen/zwei-jahre-nach-dem-7-oktober-2023-erinnerung-solidaritaet-und-die-hoffnung-auf-frieden-3214.html
Holocaust-Überlebende weltweit gedenken den Opfern des 7. Oktober 2023. Sie trauern um zerstörte Familien, warnen vor wachsendem #Antisemitismus und hoffen trotz allem auf #Frieden – für #Israel, für die Menschen in Gaza, für die Menschlichkeit. #Erinnerung #NieWieder
auschwitz.info/de/presse/pr...
📢 Hot off the press in New Phytologist!
A fresh study explores the link between root traits and ecosystem functions 🌱🌍, with our very own Thom Kuyper among the co-authors! 👏
🔗 Check it out :
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
INvitation poster for Join us on Wednesday, 8 October 2025, 16:00 CEST (Prague) for our 🧪 #forest🍁#ecology seminar, MENDELU, CZ "Landsharing: can #agroforestry enhance #biodiversity" by Martin Lukac @mtnlkc.bsky.social, University of Reading, UK. Shows text in front of an agroforestry plantation photo and the Excellentia and EU logos
🚨Join us on Wednesday, 8 October 2025, 16:00 CEST (Prague) for our 🧪 #forest🍁#ecology seminar, MENDELU, CZ "Landsharing: can #agroforestry enhance #biodiversity?" by Martin Lukac @mtnlkc.bsky.social, University of Reading, UK. Zoom: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/seminar-series. Free. Q&A via chat
🗞️New study in @globalchangebio.bsky.social 🗞️
🌳Diversity in resource use strategies promotes productivity across a global network of tree #diversity experiments?🌲
Read our new study led by Joel Jensen together with #TreeDivNet here:
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Makes me as PhD supervisor even more proud of Ilija!
As climate adaptation needs increase, is this the solution to closing the finance gap?
Absorptive fine #roots drive substantial #forest #soil carbon accumulation over the long term: Substantial forest soil carbon accrual from absorptive fine roots over decadal timescales - Nature Geoscience
Article collection / special issue: Forest Soils: How Harvesting Methods and Management Shape Soil Properties, Functions, and Resilience Journal: Discover Forests Url: https://link.springer.com/collections/dgafjfgejh Intensifying climate pressures and timber demands are refocusing attention on forest soils, the foundation of productivity, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. Harvesting methods can alter physical soil properties, hydrology, and nutrient cycles, while management incentives such as increased structural and species diversity, retention of deadwood and legacy trees, or the maintenance of refugia may buffer or reverse impacts. Together, these practices govern soil carbon dynamics, greenhouse-gas fluxes, microbial and faunal communities, mycorrhizal networks, and erosion and water quality, yet the mechanistic links and context dependencies remain underexplored across forest types and pedoclimatic zones. This collection invites original research, perspectives and reviews that quantify how harvesting systems (e.g., reduced-impact logging, mechanized operations, continuous-cover forestry) and diversity/retention strategies (e.g., mixed-species stands, structural complexity, coarse woody debris) affect soil properties and functions. We especially welcome studies that bridge scales, from plot to landscape and from short-term responses to long-term recovery, and that integrate physiology, biogeochemistry, soil ecology, and hydrology using field experiments, long-term trials, chrono sequences, remote sensing, geostatistical analysis, synthesis/meta-analysis, and/or innovative analytics (e.g., modelling, eDNA, isotopes). Submissions with regional to global scope and data-driven policy relevance (i.e., nature-based solutions) are encouraged. Our goal is to draw attention to forest management practices that hinder or improve ecosystem functions and services by hampering or stewarding soil life and function.
🚨Article collection OPEN🚨
🧪🍁 #Forest #Soils: How Harvesting Methods and Management Shape Soil Properties, Functions, and Resilience. Edited by Marian Schönauer and me at 🌲"Discover Forests". 🌳 APC currently waived, open till mid 2026 (tbd). link.springer.com/collections/... ... OA, reviews, welcome!
Welcome to the 9th International Symposium on Physiological Processes in Roots of Woody Plants. Join leading researchers, students, and professionals in Como, Italy to explore how woody roots contribute to sustainability, soil health, and plant production across diverse ecosystems. Main Themes & Highlights Immagine logo Root-driven sustainability Soil protection and health Plant production in changing environments Root-soil-ecosystem interactions Technological innovation in root research Sessions will cover topics such as root ecology, mycorrhizal dynamics, belowground monitoring technologies, agroforestry applications, and global change impacts. The event will include keynote presentations, oral sessions, posters, and a field visit.
🚨SAVE the DATE🚨 "9th International 🧪 Symposium on 🍁Woody Root research" 3-5 June 2026, Como, Italy. www.uninsubria.eu/about-us/our.... Sessions will cover #root #ecology, #mycorrhizal dynamics, #belowground #technologies, #agroforestry applications, & #globalchange. Reserve your accomodation soon!
