EXCELLENTIA_HE
@excellentia.bsky.social
65 followers 170 following 40 posts
Interdisciplinary research group at the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, CZ - conducting research on forest ecosystem functioning and services, above and below ground. Visit our website https://excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/
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borisrewald.bsky.social
🚨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.
globalchangebio.bsky.social
Multiyear Drought Strengthens Positive and Negative Functional Diversity Effects on Tree Growth Response

🔗 buff.ly/4qqRnFD
Reposted by EXCELLENTIA_HE
borisrewald.bsky.social
🚨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....
Diversity in Resource Use Strategies Promotes Productivity in Young Planted Tree Species Mixtures
By analyzing data from over 83,000 trees in 21 experiments across five continents, we found that forests with more species were more productive and had more stable growth. Productivity was driven mai...
doi.org
excellentia.bsky.social
🚨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
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
excellentia.bsky.social
2005–2025: 🎉 Celebrating 20 years of 🧪Researchers' Night in the Czech Republic and 🎓 MendelU! With the younger 🧒 generation showing a growing interest in mushrooms, particularly the tasty 🍄 fruiting bodies, but less so in hyphae /mycorrhizal 🌳 functions 😅
Children looking at mushrooms at the excellentia booth during the night of Science 2025, Mendelu, Brno
excellentia.bsky.social
Open-access article collection on destructive / sustainable #forest #soil #management, combining forest and soil #ecology #biodiversity with forest #engineering and #remotesensing topics - drawing attention to practices that hinder / improve ecosystems belowground. link.springer.com/collections/...
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borisrewald.bsky.social
🚨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!

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.
excellentia.bsky.social
Invitation to the #Excellentia co-organized 🧪conference on "Sustainable Water Management & Urban Blue-Green Infrastructure for Advancing Sponge City Perspectives in Bosnia and Herzegovina" 20-22 Oct 2025, #Sarajevo BiH, register until 15. Oct. Program at www.sfsa.unsa.ba/web/invitati...
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borisrewald.bsky.social
🚨PUBLICATION ALERT🧪Soil carbon to go: #Agroforestry🌳practices including 🍁 #coffee sequester the highest amounts of #soil #C in mountainous Southern #Ethiopia. Agroforestry Systems. doi:10.1007/s10457-025-01298-2; Access: rdcu.be/eFJ90 AF systems based on coffee are key to enhancing soil C storage.
Agroforestry coffee plot in the Sidama region, Ethiopia
Reposted by EXCELLENTIA_HE
borisrewald.bsky.social
🚨Publication Alert🚨Patterns in #Root Phenology of Woody Plants Across Climate Regions: Drivers, Constraints, and Ecosystem Implications - Qiwen Guo et al. doi.org/10.3390/f160... - the 🍁study synthesizes data from ~60 🧪 studies to identify #phenological patterns of woody plants / #trees #belowground
doi.org
excellentia.bsky.social
The long-term 🌳#windthrow plots are fully set up one year after the 🌀 storm. It's always surprising how much 💪 physical work #forest #ecology 🍁 fieldwork involves, but the data on soil C dynamics, microfauna and flora expected in the years to come is much needed for sound 🌲🌳 management decisions...
Working hard to distribute branch Wood equally across windthrow sites at the University Forest Enterprise, Mendel University in Brno. Testing for effects of different deadwood retention measures after stand replacing windthrows on soil processes, biodiversity conservation and tree regeneration
excellentia.bsky.social
Beautiful (urban) forests (and some ancient grave stones) in the Sarajevo Canton, Bosnia. Thanks to the Forestry Faculty, University of Sarajevo for the excellent kick off workshop of our project "Blue Green Infrastructure"... Fostering CZ - BiH Forestry collab. on water, drought and tree health...
Ancient graveyard on mountain top in the middle of a beautiful mixed forest in Sarajevo Canton.
Reposted by EXCELLENTIA_HE
euasian-root.bsky.social
🧪 Counting #roots, #mycorrhizae and #pathogens in the #Eurasian soil transect to synthesise in-situ knowledge of "soil biology" for 🍁 #forests belowground. Great progress thanks to a highly engaged consortium! Example for Thailand: some soil data but little information on roots / mycorrhizae... dig!
Density of belowground publications (n cell-1) in Thailand displayed as overlay on satelite image, grid cell size 13600 km2.
excellentia.bsky.social
🚨The new 🧪publication by Marian Schönauer, @borisrewald.bsky.social et al. demonstrates that #ERA5-Land data is equally well suited to modelling 🍁 #tree growth as weather station data. ERA5-Land opens up possibilities for modelling and overcomes issues of data accessibility. doi.org/10.1016/j.ag...
The main map shows colour-coded stands of four tree species included in the tree-ring width dataset (TRWall), details of Austria and Germany (TRWAWS) with automatic weather stations (AWS, black dots; top right), and an example overlay of ERA5-Land grid cells (blue lines), locations of AWS and sites (bottom right). The ACE2 (Altimeter Corrected Elevations, v.2) digital elevation model is used as the background.

Citation: Schönauer MJ, Pucher C, Altman J, Weißbacher J, Sprengel L, Rewald B (2025) Beyond meterological data: Modelling Tree Growth with ERA5-Land. Agr Forest Meteorol 372:110679. doi:10.1016/j.agrformet.2025.110679
excellentia.bsky.social
🧪Join us on Wednesday, 11 June 2025, 16:00 CET (Prague) for our #forest🍁#ecology seminar, MENDELU, CZ "Heartbeat of the Forest: Drivers and Consequences of Mast-Seeding ..." by Mario Pesendorfer @mbpesendorfer.bsky.social @BOKU University. Zoom: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/seminar-series Q&A via chat
Join us on Wednesday, 11 June 2025, 16:00 CET (Prague) for our #forest🍁#ecology seminar, MENDELU, CZ "Heartbeat of the Forest: Drivers and Consequences of Mast-Seeding in Forest Trees" by Mario Pesendorfer @ Boku University 
  Zoom link: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/seminar-series. Q&A via chat.
excellentia.bsky.social
🚨🧪SUMMER SCHOOL: THE HIDDEN HALF OF 🍁🌳ECOSYSTEMS (22 - 26 September 2025) at the Faculty of Forestry and Wood Technology, Mendel University in Brno, Czechia. Programm and registration: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/summer-school. Deadline for registration: 30th June 2025 (15 participants). See u soon!
Mycorrhizal Ingrowth Bags to determine hyphae production in situ
Reposted by EXCELLENTIA_HE
euasian-root.bsky.social
Yes, we "hate" #roots and #mycorrhiza so much, we trench them as deep as possible... Just to show how soil Carbon will thrive (read: being lost) when they are not around! All 🧪power to the saprotrophs!... Two more trenches to do in CZ then it's summer secondment in 🍁Thailand! Yeah!
Overmotivated phd student and his supervisor like to play with forest soil until it hurts (mostly hands and back)
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euasian-root.bsky.social
Chemical weathering of rocks and minerals is 🧪 important to 🍁forest ecosystem because it is the principal source of several macronutrients: Ca, Mg, K, P, Fe, Mn. First dozen EuAsiaN-ROOT satellites are now equipped across Mongolia by @burenjargal-2025.bsky.social and DL Godbold. Great start WP4.
Six types of mineral weathering bags provided by LUH Hanover, Germany before installation at Mongolian aridity gradient at EuAsiaN-ROOT satellite plots.
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borisrewald.bsky.social
🚨Publication🚨🍁🧪Ecological assessment of #forest #management approaches to develop resilient forests in the face of #global_change in Central #Europe. uge collaborative effort by Huth et al. 2025 dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ba... (124 pages :))
Fig. 3. Chronology of climate-induced disturbances and related forest development options considering different initial stand conditions and the level of resistance (stand) and resilience (regeneration). (I.-VII. denote the seven main topics).
Franka Huth, Alexander Tischer, Petia Nikolova, Heike Feldhaar, Alexandra Wehnert, Lisa Hülsmann, Jürgen Bauhus, Katrin Heer, Juliane Vogt, Christian Ammer, Uta Berger, Markus Bernhardt-Römermann, Manuela Böhme, Harald Bugmann, Jörn Buse, Laura Demant, Inken Dörfler, Jörg Ewald, Eike Feldmann, Andreas Fichtner, Martin M. Gossner, Thorsten E.E. Grams, Karl-Heinz Häberle, Jonas Hagge, Henrik Hartmann, Sven Herzog, Ansgar Kahmen, Ulrich Kohnle, Doris Krabel, Klara Krämer-Klement, Jürgen Kreyling, Michael Manthey, Karl Mellert, Peter Meyer, Andreas Mölder, Lena Muffler, Bettina Ohse, Lars Opgenoorth, Boris Rewald, Andreas Rothe, Nadine Ruehr, Tobias Scharnweber, Michael Scherer-Lorenzen, Jonas Schmeddes, Joachim Schmerbeck, Markus Schmidt, Dominik Seidel, Frank M. Thomas, Malin Tiebel, Goddert von Oheimb, Sven Wagner, Robert Weigel, Martin Wilmking, Christian Zang, Bernhard Schuldt,
Ecological assessment of forest management approaches to develop resilient forests in the face of global change in Central Europe,
Basic and Applied Ecology,
2025,

ISSN 1439-1791,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.baae.2025.05.001

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179125000404
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euasian-root.bsky.social
Eurasian Network for Tree-Root-Mycorrhizal-Pathogen Interactions in Forest Soils (EuAsiaN-ROOT) - Field sampling at University Forest Enterprise in CZ started. Colleagues from Kasetsart University, TH & Kazakh Research Institute of Soil Science, KZ and @ @excellentia.bsky.social PhD students
Field sampling at University Forest Enterprise in CZ started in Acer or Quercus dominated forest patches. Colleagues from Kasetsart University, TH & Kazakh Research Institute of Soil Science, KZ and @ @excellentia.bsky.social PhD students dig deeper :)
excellentia.bsky.social
Welcome to our new partner project @euasian-root.bsky.social and the >70 colleagues (and counting) from LUH, UNINS, CF in Europe and KIRSSA ((Kazakhstan), KU (Thailand) and MULs and NUM (both Mongolia). We look forward to working with you on the hidden half of 🍁🌳🌲forest ecosystem 🧪across Eurasia!
euasian-root.bsky.social
🧪🍁EuAsiaN-ROOT aims to unravel the complex relationships between soil, roots, fungi and pathogens within AM- vs. EM-dominated forest ecosystems across Eurasia .. read more on ... euasianroot.ldf.mendelu.cz
Fungal hyphae on soil core sample
excellentia.bsky.social
🧪Join us on Wednesday, 14 May 2025, 13:00!!!! CEST (Prague) for our #forest🍁#ecology seminar, MENDELU, CZ "Karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) forests" by Pauline Grierson @pfgblue.bsky.social, @ University of Western Australia
Zoom link: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/seminar-series. Q&A via chat.
🧪Join us on Wednesday, 14 May 2025, 13:00!! CEST (Prague) for our #forest🍁#ecology seminar, MENDELU, CZ "Karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) forests" by Pauline Grierson @pfgblue.bsky.social, @ University of Western Australia
Zoom link given via QR code excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/seminar-series. Background image shows Karri tree crown
excellentia.bsky.social
EGU25 🧪 talk by Marian Schönauer et al. on "Spatial variations in soil moisture in temperate 🍁 forest independent of topographic moisture indices, yet ERA5-Land retrievals accurately reflect their temporal variations". Impressive accuracy of EOS-based over fllow-accumulation-based indices.
EGU25 talk cover slide Marian Schönauer with session host
excellentia.bsky.social
Lovely day to organize our🌳 #windthrow plots, creating replicated 🍁🧪 sites with dead wood legacies, stems, branches, cleared, control. Big thanks to our Belgian guest students for 💪 and minds.
Marian explaining the guest how to redistribute branches across the experimental plots. Image shows a group of young researchers and students at a forest wind throw in the Czech Republic, Mendel University
excellentia.bsky.social
🧪Join us on Wednesday, 2 April 2 2025, 16:00 CET (Prague) for our #forest🍁#ecology seminar, MENDELU, CZ "Spatial and temporal variation in Amazon deforestation and forest recovery" by John Healey, @bangoruniversity.bsky.social Zoom link: excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/seminar-series. Q&A via chat.
Invitation leaflet of the EXCELLENTIA seminar:🧪Join us on Wednesday, 2 April 2 2025, 16:00 CET (Prague) for our #forest🍁#ecology seminar, MENDELU, CZ "Spatial and temporal variation in Amazon deforestation and forest recovery" by John Healey, @bangoruniversity.bsky.social  Zoom link: https://excellentia.ldf.mendelu.cz/seminar-series. Q&A via chat. Picture shows text, the excellentia logo and a rainforest as background image.
excellentia.bsky.social
Welcome to the new semester, welcome to the new course on "The Hidden Half of ecosystems" (in English) by @borisrewald.bsky.social and Douglas Godbold of #MENDELU, #FFWT. 🌲Hard facts and fun field trips targeting #roots & friends ( #mycorrhiza ). 🌳
Slide 1 of lecture 1 on root system architecture and physiology in the course "The Hidden Half" at Mendel University in Brno