Margaux Boeraeve
@margauxboeraeve.bsky.social
Postdoc at KU Leuven 🇧🇪 working on nitrogen deposition effects on soil fungi and soil carbon 🍄
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
Every biologist knows the story of Fleming's chance discovery of penicillin. But is it true?
Here, with @asimovpress.bsky.social, I write about inconsistencies in the canonical story, and explore a few alternative theories about what really happened in that St. Mary's lab in the summer of 1928.
Here, with @asimovpress.bsky.social, I write about inconsistencies in the canonical story, and explore a few alternative theories about what really happened in that St. Mary's lab in the summer of 1928.
The Penicillin Myth
Competing theories seek to explain inconsistencies surrounding Alexander Fleming’s famed discovery.
press.asimov.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Every biologist knows the story of Fleming's chance discovery of penicillin. But is it true?
Here, with @asimovpress.bsky.social, I write about inconsistencies in the canonical story, and explore a few alternative theories about what really happened in that St. Mary's lab in the summer of 1928.
Here, with @asimovpress.bsky.social, I write about inconsistencies in the canonical story, and explore a few alternative theories about what really happened in that St. Mary's lab in the summer of 1928.
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
"A growing body of evidence that the ‘Gadgil effect’ is not universal, even in the N‐poor litter of temperate pine forests where it was first described"
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
More exceptions than rules: Variable effects of ectomycorrhizal fungi on leaf litter decomposition in temperate pine forests
The results add to a growing body of evidence that the ‘Gadgil effect’ is not universal, even in the N-poor litter of temperate pine forests where it was first described and is often invoked. Further...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
November 17, 2025 at 6:32 AM
"A growing body of evidence that the ‘Gadgil effect’ is not universal, even in the N‐poor litter of temperate pine forests where it was first described"
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1...
We're halfway November but there were plenty of flowers on this calcareous grassland 👀🌸 I guess the extreme drought this summer and spring messed with the plant's phenology... 🌍
November 16, 2025 at 3:57 PM
We're halfway November but there were plenty of flowers on this calcareous grassland 👀🌸 I guess the extreme drought this summer and spring messed with the plant's phenology... 🌍
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
What a title!
Remote sensing of lichens with drones for detecting dinosaur bones
Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Remote sensing of lichens with drones for detecting dinosaur bones
Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Remote sensing of lichens with drones for detecting dinosaur bones
Brian Pickles and colleagues show that exposed dinosaur bones can be remote sensed
with drones by virtue of colored lichens growing on them.
www.cell.com
November 5, 2025 at 11:45 PM
What a title!
Remote sensing of lichens with drones for detecting dinosaur bones
Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Remote sensing of lichens with drones for detecting dinosaur bones
Current Biology www.cell.com/current-biol...
Old cemetaries can be hotspots for grassland fungi 🍄 Last week I found Hygrocybe cantharellus, Hygrocybe phaeococcinea, Cuphophyllus flavipes s.l. and more on a World War I cemetary in southern Belgium. #FungiFriday #FungiFriends
October 24, 2025 at 8:02 AM
Old cemetaries can be hotspots for grassland fungi 🍄 Last week I found Hygrocybe cantharellus, Hygrocybe phaeococcinea, Cuphophyllus flavipes s.l. and more on a World War I cemetary in southern Belgium. #FungiFriday #FungiFriends
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
Quote: "It is very hard to interpret big data in ecology in meaningful ways if you do not know anything about who the organisms are and what they do in the environment."
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
A place for natural history in the 21st century
Natural history provides an important basis for observing interactions between organisms in their environments. Biotropica recently inaugurated a new paper category called “Natural History Field Note....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 12, 2025 at 11:38 PM
Quote: "It is very hard to interpret big data in ecology in meaningful ways if you do not know anything about who the organisms are and what they do in the environment."
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
Back home after an amazing week of surveying mushrooms with the Swedish mycological society. Despite the drought we were able to record almost 1000 species! Quite some collections will be sequenced, a.o. as part of the @fundive-fungi.bsky.social project. 🍄
Some highlights 👇
Some highlights 👇
October 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Back home after an amazing week of surveying mushrooms with the Swedish mycological society. Despite the drought we were able to record almost 1000 species! Quite some collections will be sequenced, a.o. as part of the @fundive-fungi.bsky.social project. 🍄
Some highlights 👇
Some highlights 👇
Back home after an amazing week of surveying mushrooms with the Swedish mycological society. Despite the drought we were able to record almost 1000 species! Quite some collections will be sequenced, a.o. as part of the @fundive-fungi.bsky.social project. 🍄
Some highlights 👇
Some highlights 👇
October 5, 2025 at 5:39 PM
Back home after an amazing week of surveying mushrooms with the Swedish mycological society. Despite the drought we were able to record almost 1000 species! Quite some collections will be sequenced, a.o. as part of the @fundive-fungi.bsky.social project. 🍄
Some highlights 👇
Some highlights 👇
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
📢 Vacancy: I am urgently recruiting a PhD candidate to join a project on selection processes in pedunculate oak.
📅 Start date: no later than December 1st.
📅 Start date: no later than December 1st.
October 3, 2025 at 8:09 AM
📢 Vacancy: I am urgently recruiting a PhD candidate to join a project on selection processes in pedunculate oak.
📅 Start date: no later than December 1st.
📅 Start date: no later than December 1st.
This week I'm in Skåne, southern Sweden for a week of intensive mushroom-hunting with the Swedish mycological society 🤗🍄
September 29, 2025 at 1:21 PM
This week I'm in Skåne, southern Sweden for a week of intensive mushroom-hunting with the Swedish mycological society 🤗🍄
August 7, 2025 at 2:28 PM
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
Why is the European forest carbon sink declining?
How science can help reversing this trend?
A perspective paper in Nature discusses these questions, highlighting the importance to better monitor forest resources and their resilience.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
How science can help reversing this trend?
A perspective paper in Nature discusses these questions, highlighting the importance to better monitor forest resources and their resilience.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Securing the forest carbon sink for the European Union’s climate ambition - Nature
Actionable research recommendations are outlined to improve the monitoring and modelling of forest resources and their carbon sink, and to better inform forest management decisions and the European Gr...
www.nature.com
July 31, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Why is the European forest carbon sink declining?
How science can help reversing this trend?
A perspective paper in Nature discusses these questions, highlighting the importance to better monitor forest resources and their resilience.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
How science can help reversing this trend?
A perspective paper in Nature discusses these questions, highlighting the importance to better monitor forest resources and their resilience.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
Interesting publication on constraints & opportunities for a transition to alternative forest management strategies in Sweden.
Major constraints: conservative traditions & inadequate advisory services
Opportunities: increasing interest among forest owners & potential regulatory support from the EU
Major constraints: conservative traditions & inadequate advisory services
Opportunities: increasing interest among forest owners & potential regulatory support from the EU
Unlocking a transition to alternative forest management in intensive management contexts: Stakeholder perceptions of constraints and opportunities in Sweden
Forests are increasingly recognized as providing key nature-based solutions for societal challenges related to climate change, biodiversity loss, and …
www.sciencedirect.com
July 30, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Interesting publication on constraints & opportunities for a transition to alternative forest management strategies in Sweden.
Major constraints: conservative traditions & inadequate advisory services
Opportunities: increasing interest among forest owners & potential regulatory support from the EU
Major constraints: conservative traditions & inadequate advisory services
Opportunities: increasing interest among forest owners & potential regulatory support from the EU
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
Lots of intriguing results with this new study by Kranabetter et al. including that ‘Peroxidase activity under an EM host was low and equivalent to an AM host on more productive sites and only diverged with increasingly limited soil fertility’
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Diverging soil peroxidase activity under ectomycorrhizal versus arbuscular mycorrhizal conifers with increasing C:N and exchangeable manganese
Ectomycorrhizal (EM) fungi purportedly contribute to the enzymatic decay of soil organic matter (SOM), in contrast to arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) stan…
www.sciencedirect.com
July 21, 2025 at 11:22 PM
Lots of intriguing results with this new study by Kranabetter et al. including that ‘Peroxidase activity under an EM host was low and equivalent to an AM host on more productive sites and only diverged with increasingly limited soil fertility’
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
New Article Out 📣 Open Access 📣 @newphyt.bsky.social
“Fungal guild interactions slow decomposition of boreal forest pine litter and humus”
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
“Fungal guild interactions slow decomposition of boreal forest pine litter and humus”
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
June 30, 2025 at 9:25 AM
New Article Out 📣 Open Access 📣 @newphyt.bsky.social
“Fungal guild interactions slow decomposition of boreal forest pine litter and humus”
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
“Fungal guild interactions slow decomposition of boreal forest pine litter and humus”
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
New paper out! 🎉
Even after 3 years in Arctic soil, fungal necromass remains only partly decomposed, suggesting potential for long-term carbon storage, with contrasting stability between fungal and bacterial decomposers.🍄
doi.org/10.1186/s407...
Even after 3 years in Arctic soil, fungal necromass remains only partly decomposed, suggesting potential for long-term carbon storage, with contrasting stability between fungal and bacterial decomposers.🍄
doi.org/10.1186/s407...
Contrasting stability of fungal and bacterial communities during long-term decomposition of fungal necromass in Arctic tundra - Environmental Microbiome
Decomposition is a crucial process in terrestrial ecosystems, driving nutrient cycling and carbon storage dynamics. Considering the amount of fungal necromass produced in soils annually, its decomposi...
doi.org
June 20, 2025 at 7:51 PM
New paper out! 🎉
Even after 3 years in Arctic soil, fungal necromass remains only partly decomposed, suggesting potential for long-term carbon storage, with contrasting stability between fungal and bacterial decomposers.🍄
doi.org/10.1186/s407...
Even after 3 years in Arctic soil, fungal necromass remains only partly decomposed, suggesting potential for long-term carbon storage, with contrasting stability between fungal and bacterial decomposers.🍄
doi.org/10.1186/s407...
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
After a few decades post clear cutting, ectomycorrhizal fungal communities are still slowly recovering and certain species are still more likely to be found in the forest rather than on the forest edges or openings.
Forestry trials set up decades ago are key to understanding long term outcomes of management. This study looks at recovery of EcM fungi nearly 30 years (!) post harvest. Nice work👍from a great team.
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Ectomycorrhizal fungal community succession and fragmentation across forest edges nearly three decades postharvest
Forest management for wood products involves the conversion of primary forests to younger plantations. This has an immediate impact on biota such as ectomycorrhizal fungi, a diverse symbiotic fungal ...
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
June 20, 2025 at 6:28 AM
After a few decades post clear cutting, ectomycorrhizal fungal communities are still slowly recovering and certain species are still more likely to be found in the forest rather than on the forest edges or openings.
Really cool study on ectomycorrhizal decomposers, that use manganese peroxidases to degrade organic matter (most likely to mine nitrogen). The authors identify 10 taxa as EcM decomposers (mostly Cortinarius spp.) and look into their niches 👇🧪🌍🍄
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
June 20, 2025 at 1:57 PM
Really cool study on ectomycorrhizal decomposers, that use manganese peroxidases to degrade organic matter (most likely to mine nitrogen). The authors identify 10 taxa as EcM decomposers (mostly Cortinarius spp.) and look into their niches 👇🧪🌍🍄
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
I had a great time at #ESM2025 Thanks to the organizers for the great conference and to all participants for the inspiring discussions and the fun times! 🧪🍄
June 19, 2025 at 1:18 PM
I had a great time at #ESM2025 Thanks to the organizers for the great conference and to all participants for the inspiring discussions and the fun times! 🧪🍄
Nice to see our study covered by @dagensnyheter.bsky.social 👇🧪🌍
May 27, 2025 at 6:55 AM
Nice to see our study covered by @dagensnyheter.bsky.social 👇🧪🌍
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
We need to think more critically in how we use tree mycorrhizal status to predict forest ecosystem function. Important intra-guild variation among ectomycorrhizal trees leads to differences in soil biogeochemistry and organic matter properties.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Functional traits of ectomycorrhizal trees influence surrounding soil organic matter properties
Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
April 25, 2025 at 11:53 AM
We need to think more critically in how we use tree mycorrhizal status to predict forest ecosystem function. Important intra-guild variation among ectomycorrhizal trees leads to differences in soil biogeochemistry and organic matter properties.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
The EU has released its latest GHG emission inventory, with data up to 2023.
The good news, GHG emissions continue a downward trend, currently 37% below 1990 levels.
The bad news, a significant downward revision of land-use removals (LULUCF).
1/
The good news, GHG emissions continue a downward trend, currently 37% below 1990 levels.
The bad news, a significant downward revision of land-use removals (LULUCF).
1/
April 22, 2025 at 9:18 AM
The EU has released its latest GHG emission inventory, with data up to 2023.
The good news, GHG emissions continue a downward trend, currently 37% below 1990 levels.
The bad news, a significant downward revision of land-use removals (LULUCF).
1/
The good news, GHG emissions continue a downward trend, currently 37% below 1990 levels.
The bad news, a significant downward revision of land-use removals (LULUCF).
1/
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
New paper in The Lancet Planetary Health where we show that Nitrogen enrichment not only substantially increases the pollen production of grasslands, but also the pollen allergenicity 🤧.
The impact of ecosystem nitrogen enrichment on pollen allergy: a cross-sectional paired comparison study
Nitrogen enrichment substantially increased pollen abundance and allergenicity, indicating
a heightened allergy burden in nitrogen-rich environments. These findings underscore
the need for policies ad...
www.thelancet.com
April 17, 2025 at 7:42 AM
New paper in The Lancet Planetary Health where we show that Nitrogen enrichment not only substantially increases the pollen production of grasslands, but also the pollen allergenicity 🤧.
Reposted by Margaux Boeraeve
New paper out in @jappliedecology.bsky.social ! We studied carry-over effects of nitrogen fertilization in Swedish production forests. 🌲🧪🌍
🧵(1/7)
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🧵(1/7)
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
April 8, 2025 at 12:29 PM
New paper out in @jappliedecology.bsky.social ! We studied carry-over effects of nitrogen fertilization in Swedish production forests. 🌲🧪🌍
🧵(1/7)
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🧵(1/7)
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
New paper out in @jappliedecology.bsky.social ! We studied carry-over effects of nitrogen fertilization in Swedish production forests. 🌲🧪🌍
🧵(1/7)
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🧵(1/7)
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
April 8, 2025 at 12:29 PM
New paper out in @jappliedecology.bsky.social ! We studied carry-over effects of nitrogen fertilization in Swedish production forests. 🌲🧪🌍
🧵(1/7)
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...
🧵(1/7)
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...