TER

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.

More about CeMESS

News

Nicolas Valiente Parra receives EU Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoc Fellowship

13.04.2021 TER

Nicolas was awarded a highly competitive, 2-year Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoc fellowship from the European Commission. He also receives funding for…

Empirical support for the biogeochemical niche hypothesis in forest trees

08.01.2021 TER

The possibility of using the elemental composition of species as a tool to identify species/genotype niches has been tested at the global scale by…

Congratulations – MSc Alexander König

10.12.2020 TER

Congratulations to Alex, who successfully defended his MSc thesis on Thursday, December 10th 2020. His thesis on “Soil Microscale Priming: Concept and…

Andreas Richter and Wolfgang Wanek are Highly Cited Researchers 2020

18.11.2020 TER

Congratulations to Andreas and Wolfgang, who are listed among the top-cited scientists internationally. In total 37 scientists from Austria are on…

EGU Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award

23.10.2020 TER

Congratulations to Lucia Fuchslueger, who was awarded the EGU Soil Science Division Outstanding Early Career Scientist Award! The EGU, the European…

Congratulations – MSc Julia Horak

28.09.2020 TER

Congratulations to Julia, who successfully defended her MSc thesis on Monday, September 28th 2020. Her thesis on “Life in a Jar – How to Build…

Latest Publications at TER

Luo, Y., Cardoso, MF. S., Halfwerk, R., Sechi, V., Wanek, W., & Buisman, C. J. N. (2026). Distinct and synergistic roles of bacteria, fungi, and extracellular polymeric substances in soil aggregation. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 222, 1-4. Article 110274. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110274

Glasl, B., Kitzinger, K., Luter, H. M., Legin, A., Schuster, S., Salas, E., Heldwein, N., Damjanovic, K., Rutsch, M., Vekeman, B., Geerlings, N. M. J., Pjevac, P., Séneca, J., Watzka, M., Wanek, W., Speth, D. R., & Wagner, M. (2026). Branched-chain amino acid assimilation enables mixotrophy of ammonia-oxidizing archaeal sponge symbionts. Science Advances, 12(36), 1-15. Article eaef9450. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aef9450

Lintner, M., Polovodova Asteman, I., Bernhard, J. M., Legin, A., Schintlmeister, A., Cyran, N., Schmidt, K., Wanek, W., Golen, J., & Tyszka, J. (2026). Water soluble fuel compounds impair metabolism in benthic foraminifera: Ecotoxicological observations at cellular level. Science of the Total Environment, 1045, 1-10. Article 181976. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2026.181976

Yao, R., Zhang, Y., Wanek, W., Luo, Z., Fu, H., Chang, S. X., Terrer, C., Jiang, M., Ge, T., Liang, G., Yang, Y., Luo, Y., Chen, J., Delgado-Baquerizo, M., Chadwick, D. R., Jones, D. L., Wu, L., Liang, Y., & Ma, Q. (2026). Synergistic Interactions Between Warming and Elevated Atmospheric CO₂ Increase Soil Organic Carbon Sequestration. Global Change Biology, 32(8), 1-14. Article e71072. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.71072

Sun, L., Chen, J., Qiao, Y., Moorhead, D. L., Wanek, W., Ochoa-Hueso, R., & Lin, Y. (2026). Revisiting ecoenzymatic stoichiometry models for improved understanding of microbial resource limitations. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 222, 1-10. Article 110280. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2026.110280