This work was funded by @ukri.org NERC FACE-Underground project and special thanks to the amazing team at BIFoR (www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/cen...) and PI Prof Sami Ullah, alongside all the co-authors, for making this work possible during COVID! 6/6

The changes we reveal in belowground nutrient acquisition may respond to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide, with implications for continued carbon sequestration in mature temperate forests. 5/6

Relative investment into outsourcing nutrient aquisition through root exudation and mycorrhizal production was more choregraphed to seasonal nutrient demands and the lifecycle of the tree, and was enhanced under elevated carbon dixoide. 4/6

Higher atmospheric carbon dioxide increased root branching consistently, showing mature oak trees invest in exploring more of the soil volume in this "do it yourself" strategy. 3/6

At the University of Birmingham Institute of Forest Research (BIFoR) free air carbon enrichment facility in Staffordshire, England, we quantified root exudation and ectomycorrhizal production, alongside root morphology and exudate chemistry across 1 year in a mature oak forest. 2/6

🚨New in PNAS we show that mature oak trees under elevated carbon dioxide choreograph their investment into "do it yourself" and "outsourcing" to support nutrient acquisiton pnas.org/doi/10.1073/... 1/6

Really pleased to see "The agricultural plastic paradox: Feeding more, harming more?" led by Kai Wang at CAU published. We contextuliase negative tradeoffs of agricultural plastic use with the societial benefits delivered, showing the need for "zero-leakage" rather than "zero-use".