Dr. Lucia Fuchslueger
Junior Research Group Leader at the Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research
☎ +43 1 4277 91269
✉ lucia.fuchslueger(at)univie.ac.at
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Research Profiles
» orcID
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Social Media
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Publications
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Plant-Soil-Microbe Interactions as Ecosystem Drivers. At the heart of my research is understanding how interactions among plants, soil microorganisms, and their environment regulate ecosystem functioning—from belowground carbon allocation to root-microbe feedbacks. This integrative approach, combining field experiments, isotope tracing and molecular techniques, shows that belowground interactions actively shape ecosystem-level responses to nutrient availability and climate stress.
Nutrient Limitation and Acquisition Strategies. With my team, we investigate how plants and microorganisms acquire limiting nutrients, particularly phosphorus and nitrogen, in resource-poor ecosystems. Working in tropical forests and temperate grasslands, we examine strategies from fine root trait plasticity and exudate composition to microbial enzyme production, revealing how nutrient scarcity shapes microbial community and ecosystem responses to global change.
Climate Change Impacts on Belowground Processes. We study how drought, warming, and elevated CO2 alter soil carbon and nutrient cycling through plant-soil-microbe interactions. Our work demonstrates that past environmental conditions can create "ecological memory" that modifies subsequent stress responses. Tracking these dynamics across biomes reveals mechanisms underlying ecosystem resilience and vulnerability to climate change.
Public Outreach
FACE-ing the Amazon's future (2025)
Description of root exudate collection at the TropiRoot Network workshop at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute at Barro Colorado Island, Panama "Coordinating and synthesizing tropical forest root trait studies: Understanding belowground NPP, root responses to global change, and nutrient acquisition dynamics across tropical forests," funded by New Phytologist (2023)
Group Members
Crisvaldo Cássio Silva de Souza
PhD Student (INPA Manaus, Brazil)
Publications
Hasibeder R, Fuchslueger L, Richter A, Bahn M. Summer drought alters carbon allocation to roots and root respiration in mountain grassland. New Phytologist. 2015 Feb;205(3):1117-1127. doi: 10.1111/nph.13146
Fuchslueger L, Kastl EM, Bauer F, Kienzl S, Hasibeder R, Ladreiter-Knauss T et al. Effects of drought on nitrogen turnover and abundances of ammonia-oxidizers in mountain grassland. Biogeosciences. 2014 Nov 5;11(21):6003-6015. doi: 10.5194/bg-11-6003-2014
Mooshammer M, Wanek W, Nunes Cornelio Hämmerle I, Fuchslueger L, Hofhansl F, Knoltsch A et al. Adjustment of microbial nitrogen use efficiency to carbon: nitrogen imbalances regulates soil nitrogen cycling. Nature Communications. 2014 Apr 16;5:3694. doi: 10.1038/ncomms4694
Schnecker J, Wild B, Hofhansl F, Alves RJE, Barta J, Capek P et al. Effects of Soil Organic Matter Properties and Microbial Community Composition on Enzyme Activities in Cryoturbated Arctic Soils. PLoS ONE. 2014 Apr 4;9(4):e94076. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0094076
Fuchslueger L, Bahn M, Fritz K, Hasibeder R, Richter A. Experimental drought reduces the transfer of recently fixed plant carbon to soil microbes and alters the bacterial community composition in a mountain meadow. New Phytologist. 2014 Feb;201(3):916-927. Epub 2013 Oct 31. doi: 10.1111/nph.12569
Microbiomes Drive Planetary Health
Lucia Fuchslueger is part of the FWF-funded Cluster of Excellence (CoE)
