We are hiring: Full Professor of Soil Ecosystems and Global Change
TER
Soil ecosystems form the foundation of planetary health and play a critical role in climate feedback mechanisms. However, they are also vulnerable to…
Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research
Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science
About TER
The Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research | TER at the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science | CeMESS 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.
CeMESS/Maximilian Prag
News
FWF "Tausend Ideen" for Hannes Schmidt
TER
Hannes Schmidt, Senior Scientist at TER, received funding from the Austrian Science Fund’s 1000 Ideas program (“Tausend Ideen”). Congratulations,…
Congratulations, Paul Prinz, MSc!
TER
Congratulations to Paul Prinz, who successfully defended his MSc thesis on Wednesday April 9th, 2025.
His thesis on “Modelling the effect of…
Congratulations, Thayer Taft, MSc!
TER
Congratulations to Thayer Taft, who successfully defended his MSc thesis on Wednesday April 2nd, 2025.
His thesis on “Microbial activity responses…
Congratulations Dr. Eva Simon
TER
Congratulations to Dr. Eva Simon, who successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled
"The fine-scale spatial organisation of the soil microbiome" on…
Congratulations, Iris Karbon, MSc!
TER
Iris Karbon successfully defended her Master’s thesis “Off-target Effects of Biological Nitrification Inhibitors in an Agricultural Soil” on March…
Latest Publications at TER
Krasenbrink, J., Hanson, B. T., Weiss, A. S., Borusak, S., Tanabe, T. S., Lang, M., Aichinger, G., Hausmann, B., Berry, D., Richter, A., Marko, D., Mussmann, M., Schleheck, D., Stecher, B., & Loy, A. (2025). Sulfoquinovose is exclusively metabolized by the gut microbiota and degraded differently in mice and humans. Microbiome, 13(1), Article 184. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40168-025-02175-x
Yu, Q., Anthony, M. A., Gessler, A., Tan, X., Zhu, J., Ji, C., Tang, Z., & Fang, J. (2025). Decadal nutrient addition reveals phosphorus limitation and its adaptive mechanisms in tropical rainforests. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 211(109976). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109976
Chen, S.-C., Li, X.-M., Battisti, N., Guan, G., Montoya, M. A., Osvatic, J., Pjevac, P., Pollak, S., Richter, A., Schintlmeister, A., Wanek, W., Mussmann, M., & Loy, A. (2025). Microbial iron oxide respiration coupled to sulfide oxidation. Nature, 646(8086). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09467-0
Keller, N., Anthony, M. A., van der Voort, T. S., Binte Mohamed Ramdzan, K. N., Mills, M. B., Raczka, N. C., & Koh, L. P. (2025). Soil carbon as a blind spot in tropical rainforest restoration. Current Biology, 35(15), R765-R781. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2025.05.060
Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science
University of Vienna
CeMESS/Maximilian Prag