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Reposted by Justus Hennecke

Claus Wilke @clauswilke.com · 1d

Biology is much more complicated than most non-biologists can imagine. And AI is not going to change this anytime soon.
blog.genesmindsmachines.com/p/we-still-c...

We still can’t predict much of anything in biology

Biology is hard. Yes, even for AI.

blog.genesmindsmachines.com

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Reposted by Justus Hennecke

Joana Bergmann @joanabergmann.bsky.social · 1d

Excited and proud to see this paper published! Another example of a fruitful (and fun!) collaboration of #root scientists.
Thanks to the leading team, to @newphyt.bsky.social and to many global scientific networks and experiments for making it possible.

Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

Super excited to see that the last chapter of my PhD on root trait - ecosystem functioning relationships is now published in @newphyt.bsky.social!
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Rooting for function: community‐level fine‐root traits relate to many ecosystem functions

Humans are driving biodiversity change, which also alters community functional traits. However, how changes in the functional traits of the community alter ecosystem functions—especially belowground...

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions!

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

3️⃣ PhD (Field Ecology & Plant Health in Diverse Communities) 🪴 🌾
Investigating ecological patterns of plant–pathogen interactions in the field to uncover the “underground rules” of community resilience. 🔗 Vacancy link www.wur.nl/nl/vacature/...

PhD Position - Uncovering the underground rules of plant health and community resilience (ERC Advanced Grant DIGDEEP)

www.wur.nl

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

2️⃣ PhD (Mathematical Modelling of Plant Disease Dynamics) 🖥️ 🌻
Developing and testing models to derive general principles of how variation in host quality and community composition influence pathogen transmission.
🔗 Vacancy link: www.wur.nl/nl/vacature/...

PhD Position - Mathematical Modelling of Plant Disease in Diverse Communities (ERC Advanced Grant DIGDEEP)

www.wur.nl

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

1️⃣ Postdoc (Experimental Ecology & Plant–Fungal Interactions) 🌱 🍄
Exploring how plant diversity affects host quality and pathogen transmission in experimental systems.
🔗 Vacancy link: www.wur.nl/nl/vacature/...

Postdoctoral Researcher in Plant-Fungal Interactions (ERC Advanced Grant DIGDEEP)

www.wur.nl

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

We aim to better understand biodiversity-disease relationships by studying the role of root traits, plant community composition as well as the interaction with mycorrhizal fungi for pathogen dynamics in soil and roots, with a focus on grassland systems.

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

There are three (!) open vacancies (2 PhD, 1 PostDoc) to join the our team in the ERC project of Liesje Mommer at Wageningen University! Consider applying if you are interested in root fungal pathogens and using bioassays in the lab, fieldwork in large biodiversity experiments or modelling.

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

@joanabergmann.bsky.social, @colleeniversen.bsky.social and @fonsvanderplas.bsky.social, as well as many others (who are not on Bluesky).

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

This study is the result of a workshop series initiated by Alexandra Weigelt from @agwirthweigelt.bsky.social and Liesje Mommer, and was supported by the New Phytologist Foundation. Led by Kathryn Barry and myself, with a fantastic group effort from many collaborators and co-authors, including

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

However, our study also raises new questions about the role of a potential mismatch in above- and belowground abundance of plants and its role for trait coordination based on CWM traits.

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

This suggests that changes in species (and hence functional) composition, for example due to effects of global change, but also targeted approaches in restoration, can lead to very relevant changes in functioning at the plant- and ecosystem level.

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

While past research tended to focus on traits of the 'fast-slow' conservation gradient (root nitrogen content and root tissue density), we show that the morphological and anatomical traits of the collaboration gradient (root diameter and specific root length) are of similar importance.

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

We found that the coordination of community-weighted root traits (from the GRooT database) deviated from the root economics space and the coordination at the species-level. Nonetheless, these CWM traits were actually related to many ecosystem functions of carbon and nutrient cycling.

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

We developed and tested hypotheses on how fine root traits of the root economics space relate to ecosystem functioning in grasslands and forests, and experimental and observational systems (such as the Jena Experiment, the Biodiversity Exploratories, BEF-China, Cedar Creek, NEON and others).

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · 1d

Super excited to see that the last chapter of my PhD on root trait - ecosystem functioning relationships is now published in @newphyt.bsky.social!
nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Rooting for function: community‐level fine‐root traits relate to many ecosystem functions

Humans are driving biodiversity change, which also alters community functional traits. However, how changes in the functional traits of the community alter ecosystem functions—especially belowground...

nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Justus Hennecke

Science Magazine @science.org · 6d

Using precise spatial and temporal analysis, researchers in Science provide insight into how bacteria around the root interact both with the plant and with each other.

Learn more in this week's issue: https://scim.ag/3WgNajk

A confocal microscopy image shows root-colonizing bacteria clustering around an emerging lateral root, where localized glutamine leakage induces spatially confined reporter activity.

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Reposted by Justus Hennecke

Journal of Ecology @journalofecology.bsky.social · 7d

🌼 In open biomes, plant height can be unrelated to plant age. This study assesses plant age by counting annual growth rings within sections of stem base🧪🌎

Size isn't age: Decoupled and interacting effects of height and age on functional traits in grassland plants

buff.ly

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Reposted by Justus Hennecke

Drew Peltier @peltierdrew.bsky.social · 8d

1st pub from Phd student Alicia Formanack synthesizing tree ring widths in drought-killed trees to show that, nope, there are no universal patterns. We present a framework combining previously described syndromes: flashy, decoupled, or declining?🌏🌐
doi.org/10.1111/nph....
@newphyt.bsky.social

Flashy, decoupled, or declining? Single theories fail to explain the diversity of drought mortality signals in tree rings

Growth patterns recorded in tree rings may predict drought ‘winners’ and ‘losers’. Past studies of drought-killed trees have produced conflicting evidence. Some show killed trees were highly respons...

doi.org

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Reposted by Justus Hennecke

Franciska de Vries 🟥 @frantecol.bsky.social · 9d

Extremely proud of Eileen Enderle for publishing her second PhD paper in @journalofecology.bsky.social !!

She shows that the impact that drought has on plant-soil feedback is mediated by soil bacterial and fungal communities.
besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

Drought legacy effects on plant growth and plant–soil feedback are mediated by soil microbial communities independently of root exudates and root litter

The results show that drought indirectly restricts plant growth, which is not mediated by root exudates or root litter, but through altering microbial biomass and community composition. These finding...

besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Reposted by Justus Hennecke

Nature Ecology & Evolution @natecoevo.nature.com · 22d

Global analysis indicates that phosphorus limitation on terrestrial primary productivity has become stronger and is increasing more rapidly than nitrogen limitation. 🧪
www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Phosphorus constrains global photosynthesis more than nitrogen does - Nature Ecology & Evolution

Nitrogen and phosphorus limitations are both key to spatial patterns and temporal trends in primary production. This global analysis indicates that phosphorus limitation on terrestrial primary product...

www.nature.com

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Reposted by Justus Hennecke

Peter Petrík @peterpetrik94.bsky.social · 29d

New research just dropped! Revisiting Paradigms Related to Root Hydraulic Limitation Under Drought is now available—challenging classic hydraulic-fuse models and outdated assumptions about root embolism, xylem safety-efficiency trade-offs, and ABA signalling. doi.org/10.1007/124_...

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Reposted by Justus Hennecke

Brian J. Enquist @bjenquist.bsky.social · 28d

We need more provocative papers like this …

John Alroy @johnalroy.bsky.social · Jul 24

Shannon's H, Simpson's D, and Pielou's J are useless in ecology. Fitting data with a compound abundance distribution based on the geometric series is a better way to quantify variation – and to estimate species richness. New paper in Ecology Letters.

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

onlinelibrary.wiley.com

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Justus Hennecke @henneckejustus.bsky.social · Sep 6

@karlandraczek.bsky.social

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Reposted by Justus Hennecke

UMR Eco&Sols lab @umr-ecosols.bsky.social · Sep 4

We collaborated in a meta-analysis @natecoevo.nature.com on adjustment of hydraulic traits.
1. Including the intraspecific variability of traits in models avoids overestimating vulnerabilities.
2. Plants hydraulics adjustment is not enough to protect them from drought risks.
@cirad.bsky.social

Limited plastic responses in safety traits support greater hydraulic risk under drier conditions

Nature Ecology & Evolution - Plants across many ecosystems are increasingly exposed to dryness stress. Using meta-analysis, the authors show that plants can adjust their hydraulic traits in...

www.nature.com

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