About Us

The Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research aims to advance the fundamental understanding of how soil microorganisms and plants respond to and in turn shape their abiotic and biotic environment, and what consequences these interactions have for the functioning of the Earth’s ecosystems.

Researchers at TER address pressing environmental issues, such as the impact of climate change on ecosystem functioning and the role of soils in the global carbon cycle and in food security.

 News

11.02.2025
 

We are thrilled to announce that Ksenia Guseva has joined our team as a senior scientist.

11.02.2025
 

At CeMESS, women play a vital role in shaping the future of science. With more than half of our researchers identifying as women, we recognize the...

23.12.2024
 

Congratulations to Dr. Stefan Gorka, who successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled

"From phospholipids to neutral lipids: Characterising soil...

 Events

11.07.2024 15:00
 

Josh Schimel

Professor, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

UBB HS 2

27.06.2019
 

Yong-Guan Zhu

Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences & Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Lecture Hall HS5, UZA2...

15.11.2018
 

Ivan Janssens

Centre of Excellence of Global Change Ecology, University of Antwerp, Belgium

Lecture Hall HS2, UZA 1

 Latest Publications

Valverde-Barrantes OJ, Figueiredo Lugli L, Fuchslueger L, Hofhansl F, Martins NP, Cordeiro AL et al. Rainfall seasonality shapes belowground root trait dynamics in an Amazonian tropical rainforest: A test of the stress-dominance hypothesis. Functional Ecology. 2025 Jan 26. Epub 2025 Jan 26. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.14744

Sun L, Qiao Y, Wanek W, Moorhead DL, Cui Y, Peng Y et al. Nitrogen input decreases microbial nitrogen use efficiency in surface soils of a temperate forest in northeast China. Geoderma. 2025 Jan;453:117159. Epub 2024 Dec 25. doi: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2024.117159

Spohn M, Wanek W. Quantifying element fluxes using radioisotopes. New Phytologist. 2025 Jan;245(2):443-445. doi: 10.1111/nph.20203

Knight CG, Nicolitch O, Griffiths RI, Goodall T, Jones B, Weser C et al. Soil microbiomes show consistent and predictable responses to extreme events. Nature. 2024 Dec 19;636(8043):690-696. Epub 2024 Nov 27. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-08185-3