Go Belowground!
LightNews LightNews
banner
exfumo.bsky.social
Go Belowground!
@exfumo.bsky.social
420 followers 340 following 96 posts
Go Belowground with us. It is fascinating!
Dept. Experimental and Functional Morphology at the Institute of Botany @ibotcz.bsky.social of Czech Academy of Sciences @czechacademy.bsky.social #GoBelowground #ExFuMo
Blog at plantlifebelowground.wordpress.com
Posts Replies Media Videos
exfumo.bsky.social
🚩Dig into plant functional ecology! 🌱⛏️Join the 8th Go Belowground! PhD course (13–19 Sep 2026 Czech Republic) Lectures, hands-on field, lab training ▶️ 1url.cz/2ziQz
#clonality #budbank #belowground #mophology #roots #traits #GoBelowground #ExFuMo #functional #course
January 20, 2026 at 12:11 PM
exfumo.bsky.social
📢 Root exudates: invisible, fast-changing chemical signals shaping microbes, neighbors and soil. 🦠🌱
A new on our blog ▶️ 📢https://1url.cz/lJAdf
#Rhizosphere #RootExudates #PlantEcology #ExFuMo #GoBelowground #Soil #Exudate #Microbes @ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
Drawing by Curtis Lubbe
January 14, 2026 at 10:51 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Calling researchers working on plant belowground - #bud banks, #storage, #rhizome, #anatomy, #clonality to join our #IAVS2026 Special Session-The Hidden Half: emerging questions in belowground #functional #ecology in #Gijón 22–26 Jun▶️ 1url.cz/OJ8fM #GoBelowground #IAVS @czechacademy.bsky.social
January 6, 2026 at 9:55 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Heading to #IAVS2026 in #Gijón? Curious about plant belowground? Join the #Belowground #Workshop! Intro + hands-on field digging in JUN 21. Free for attendees, max 20 participants. Sign up via the conference site! ▶️ 1url.cz/OJ8fM #IAVS #ExFuMo #GoBelowground #clonality @ibotcz.bsky.social
January 6, 2026 at 9:19 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Season’s greetings from our blog ▶️ 1url.cz/PJ6z5 Thank you to everyone who has read, shared, or contributed this year!🩷This illustration of buds on belowground storage organs is available with other materials here▶️ 1url.cz/FJ6z9
#GoBelowground #ExFuMo @ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
December 29, 2025 at 9:45 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
🚩Dig into plant functional ecology! 🌱⛏️ Join the 8th Go Belowground! PhD course (13–19 Sep 2026, Czech Republic) Lectures, hands-on field, lab training ▶️ 1url.cz/2ziQz
#clonality #budbank #belowground #mophology #roots #traits #GoBelowground #ExFuMo
@czechacademy.bsky.social @ibotcz.bsky.social
December 19, 2025 at 10:00 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Already #ancient antarctic #tree showed a clever survival trick! Root sprouting - new stems popping up from the roots after damage. These #Permian forests regenered from belowground and from roots! ▶️ 1url.cz/MJY2G
#RootSprouting #Antarctica #GoBelowground #ExFuMo @ibotcz.bsky.social
The locality of Skaar Ridge in the Central Transantarctic Mountains. It is at 2200 m, on top of a mountain that rises above the Antarctic icesheet, photo by Rudolph Serbet. Transverse sections of a young Glossopteridale root (R) with its typical structure with wedges of wood producing a sucker shoot (S) with a conspicuous pith and “normal” wood cylinder. A later stage when they are separated but the two axes are still englobed within the same bark tissues (right). Scale bars = 200 µm.
December 17, 2025 at 10:43 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Banana isn’t just about the fruit 🍌 🍌
New on our blog ▶️ 1url.cz/uJ9Y3
We know little about carbon allocation in banana rhizome, a starch-rich hub connecting mother plants and daughters. Huge knowledge gaps, big climate resilience implications!
#GoBelowground #ExFuMo
Cross-cut of a rhizome, with the central cylinder (rich in starch) and thick cortex, separated by a layer of cambium-like tissue from which roots and suckers develop (credit: Mathilde Vantyghem). New research by Mathilde Vantyghem from the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (Cirad). The photo above shows banana plants with side shoots (suckers) connected to the main plant through the belowground rhizome (credit: Mathilde Vantyghem).
December 11, 2025 at 8:22 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Plants race too! Just belowground. #Taproot stays put, #bulbsdives down, #tubers scatter in all directions, but the hypogeogenous #rhizome and a #rootsprouter take the gold for lateral spread
▶️ 1url.cz/ZJ57D
#GoBelowground #ExFuMo #art #lateralspread @ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
Drawing by Curtis Lubbe
December 3, 2025 at 8:08 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Perennial #herbs don’t “wake up” in spring out of nowhere. Their #renewalbuds preform leaves and even flowers months before we see any green.
More on our blog ▶️ 1url.cz/VJOhA 🌱 #budpreformation #FunctionalEcology #SpringTiming #GoBelowground #ExFuMo @ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
November 27, 2025 at 9:22 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
#Novelty isn’t a yes/no, but a #gradient from #replication to #innovation. We should be honest about where our work sits on that gradient, instead of overselling everything as #groundbreaking
More▶️ 1url.cz/sJXel
#GoBelowground #ExFuMo #linocut @ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
linocut by Jitka Klimesova
November 21, 2025 at 10:14 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Ready for winter! ❄️☃️🪻As winter in the northern hemisphere approaches, plants are preparing to be protected from cold ❄️
Read more on our blog ▶️ 1url.cz/PJ0Vy
#GoBelowground #ExFuMo #rhizome #bud #clonality #overwintering #strategy @ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
November 13, 2025 at 7:45 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Identifying fine roots is a frontier for belowground ecology!
In our new blog post ▶️ 1url.cz/lJZZl 🔴Fine Root Identification Protocol 🟠Root Kahoot🟢Rhidentify quiz🟤Rhizarium (2,000+ fine root images) #root
#GoBelowground #ExFuMo @czechacademy.bsky.social @ibotcz.bsky.social @josephtumber.bsky.social
The photo above shows a fine root from an eastern white pine (Pinus strobus). Photo by Grady Welsh.
October 15, 2025 at 8:16 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Cold-season cattail harvest = cleaner water, happier wetlands, and usable biomass—without stressing the system. Win-win 👍
More on our blog ▶️ 1url.cz/8JhAe
#Wetlands #NatureBasedSolutions #WaterQuality #GoBelowground #ExFuMo
October 8, 2025 at 8:30 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Tubers = survival engines. Packed with energy, resilient in tough soils, vital for people & ecosystems.
More on our blog: 1url.cz/qJDNS
#tubers #resilience #energy #ecosystems #indigenous #ExFuMo #GoBelowground @ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
October 1, 2025 at 11:22 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Big news! Our colleague Martin Bitomský from the #ExFuMo department is heading to Spain for a two-year research stay under the #MSCA project. Wishing him lots of luck, scientific success and invaluable experience. ¡Buena suerte! 🇪🇸 #GoBelowground @ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social
September 30, 2025 at 7:14 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
A little digging in the forests of New England
A new post on our blog ▶️ 1url.cz/pJdXm
Many of the plants have very long rhizomes that twist through the thick litter layer! Thanks @josephtumber.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social @ibotcz.bsky.social
#ExFuMo #Rhizome #Clonality #GoBelowground
September 24, 2025 at 9:05 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
#GoBelowground course is over! Huge thanks to all participants and lecturers! We hope you made it home safely and found the course useful. And also big thanks @czechacademy.bsky.social and @ibotcz.bsky.social for their support. Until next time! #ExFuMo #functional #morphology #clonality #roots
September 22, 2025 at 9:05 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
The final day of the #GoBelowground course on plant belowground #traits consisted of students´ miniprojects on #rooting depth, #bud bank, plant #age structure, fine #root traits and #clonal growth organs. See you next year!
Thanks @czechacademy.bsky.social and @ibotcz.bsky.social for the support
September 19, 2025 at 6:37 PM
exfumo.bsky.social
🌷The fourth day of the #GoBelowground course was dedicated to #bud #traits and bud bank, fine #root traits with @joanabergmann.bsky.social and participants' presentations. Thanks to @czechacademy.bsky.social @ibotcz.bsky.social
#ExFuMo #clonality #functional #ecology #course #morphology #phenology
September 18, 2025 at 6:54 PM
exfumo.bsky.social
#Carbohydrate #storage, #analytical #methods of carbohydrate storage, sweet tasting and #plant #belowground organs hunt were the program of the third day of the #GoBelowground course 🌷🌿🪻
@czechacademy.bsky.social @ibotcz.bsky.social
#ExFuMo
September 17, 2025 at 6:39 PM
exfumo.bsky.social
The second day of the #GoBelowground! The course on #plant #belowground #functional #morphology was about the fine #roots and #anatomy of #storage #organs. We are grateful to @czechacademy.bsky.social and @ibotcz.bsky.social for the support, and to all participants for their enthusiasm! #ExFuMo 🌱🌴🌷
September 16, 2025 at 6:29 PM
exfumo.bsky.social
The first day of the 7th edition of the #GoBelowground course! 16 participants from 7 countries and 3 continents are admiring the ecological functions of clonal growth organs. Our mission? Not to overlook crucial plant part - belowground!
Thanks @czechacademy.bsky.social @ibotcz.bsky.social #ExFuMO
September 15, 2025 at 7:09 PM
exfumo.bsky.social
🚩Beware the Hoof! 🦓🐮 A new on our blog ⏩ 1url.cz/tJsmC
South Africa’s mesic #grasslands depend on #forbs, but heavy #grazing threatens their rich #biodiversity.
Protect them with careful grazing and time to recover.
#ExFuMo #GoBelowground @czechacademy.bsky.social @ibotcz.bsky.social
September 10, 2025 at 10:02 AM
exfumo.bsky.social
Blue-and-white Blue Onion #cibulak a classic Central European motif began as a pomegranate motif resembling an onion. These images push it further😄They fuse leaves, stems, flowers & belowground! #GoBelowgroud #ExFuMo #art #science @ibotcz.bsky.social @czechacademy.bsky.social ▶️ 1url.cz/EJkYG
September 4, 2025 at 6:33 AM