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

Hannes Schmidt welcomed as Committee Chair in the EGU Soil System Sciences Division

28.05.2020 TER

Hannes Schmidt, PostDoc at TER, has been officially welcomed as the Committee Chair of the “Soil Biology, Microbiology and Biodiversity” section of…

New Young Investigator Researcher Group Project

20.04.2020 TER

TER PostDoc Lucia Fuchlueger has been awarded a Young Investigator Researcher Group project from the FWF, entitled “PlayNICE - Interplay between…

PNAS Cozzarelli Prize for paper on air eating microbe

11.03.2020 TER

The Editorial Board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) has selected our paper with Andreas Richter and Alexander Tviet…

TER Science Day

17.01.2020 TER

TER - the Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research, Centre for Microbiology and Ecosystem Science, met for a one-day Science Day on Friday January…

New Paper in Nature Ecology and Evolution: A systemic overreaction to years versus decades of warming in a subarctic grassland ecosystem

10.12.2019 TER

Temperature governs most biotic processes, yet we know little about how warming affects whole ecosystems. This paper examines the responses of 128…

Congratulations MSc. Bruna Imai

29.11.2019 TER

Bruna successfully defended her Master's thesis "Exchange and distribution of carbon and soil nutrients in common mycorrhizal networks of European…

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