Today we celebrate the submission of Michael Köhler's doctoral thesis 🥳🎉🎈 Another seedling 🌱 that is growing into a strong, stately tree 🌳
@michakoehlerbotany.bsky.social

🚨 Postdoc paper alert! 🚨
🌳✨ In a subtropical forest plantation (BEF-China), we asked: How flexible are tree leaves when light & neighbours change? Using Vis/NIR spectroscopy, we measured 14 leaf traits from ~5000 leaves 🌿 across diversity levels. doi.org/10.1002/ecy....

Five months later, our trees have grown well, so we have finally planted them in our tubes. Stay tuned to see how our trees grow and resist pollution. @treedi.bsky.social

We were also participating in the Long Night of Science last Friday, where we measured photosynthesis with visitors, were impressed by nematodes and fungi under the microscope, and surveyed plant preparations that were up to 60 years old. It was a great party!

Last week was an outstanding one for us: Lina submitted her PhD thesis and Pablo @castretis.bsky.social defended his thesis excellently. This was the first PhD defence in our beautifully renovated lecture hall in the Botanical Garden. Congratulations to you both! You did a fantastic job! 🥳🎉🥂

This week we identified fungal fruiting bodies from the #MyDiv tree diversity experiment, and found an impressive richness. One of our highlights is Dissoderma odoratum growing as a parasite on a Hebeloma mesophaeum fruiting body. Very rare and endangered! Nature is an incredible thing!

Yesterday, our 2 TreeDì PhD students, Justus and Tibor, officially launched this year's tree diversity greenhouse experiment (autoclaving soil). Next week, we will start cultivating the plants. Stay tuned to follow the progress of the experiment! More information here: www.idiv.de/career/assoc...