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
Schärer ML, Fuchslueger L, Canarini A, Richter A, Lüscher A, Kahmen A. Post-drought organic carbon mineralization leads to high productivity and nutrient uptake efficiency of perennial grassland after rewetting. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 2025 May;204:109744. doi: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109744
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 Mar 1;39(3):799-812. Epub 2025 Jan 26. doi: 10.1111/1365-2435.14744
Schaap KJ, Fuchslueger L, Hofhansl F, Valverde-Barantes O, Quesada CA, Hoosbeek MR. Intra‐annual dynamics of soil and microbial C, N, and P pools in a Central Amazon Terra Firme forest. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science. 2024 Dec 2;187(6):725-736. doi: 10.1002/jpln.202300107
Canarini A, Fuchslueger L, Schnecker J, Metze D, Nelson DB, Kahmen A et al. Soil fungi remain active and invest in storage compounds during drought independent of future climate conditions. Nature Communications. 2024 Nov 29;15(1):10410. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54537-y
Fuchslueger L, Solly EF, Canarini A, Brangari AC. Overview: Global change effects on terrestrial biogeochemistry at the plant–soil interface. Biogeosciences. 2024 Sept 6;21(17):3959-3964. 21. doi: 10.5194/bg-21-3959-2024
Microbiomes Drive Planetary Health
Lucia Fuchslueger is part of the FWF-funded Cluster of Excellence (CoE)
