EcoMEMO

Ecological memory of extreme drought events in soil microbial communities

WEBSITE PAPER

Main participants: Alberto Canarini (PI), Arun Kumar Devarajan (Post-doc), Wout Yi Moe Oo (PhD) and many others

Extreme droughts are becoming more frequent worldwide, challenging our ability to predict ecosystem responses. The concept of ecological memory—how past events shape current responses—is central to this problem. Soil microbes are key regulators of biogeochemical processes and can rapidly adapt to recurrent stress, making them critical to understanding ecosystem resilience. The ERC-funded EcoMEMO project investigates how soil microbial communities respond to drought, integrating soil biogeochemistry, molecular ecology, and mathematics to quantify ecological memory and identify microbial dynamics that mitigate the impacts of extreme drought.

Root endophytes

Carbon and nitrogen trading between plant and endophytes

PAPER

Main participants: Alberto Canarin (PI), Hirokazu Toju (Co-PI), Toby Kiers (Co-PI), Jinsen Zheng (Collaborator) and many others

In this project we evaluated the Carbon to Nitrogen dynamics between plant and root endophytes. Root endophytes can devliver nutrients to plants and obtain Carbon, similarly to mycorrhizal symbiosis. However they are underinvestigated. In this project we used a combination of stable isotope, pure culture and transcriptomic, to reveal dynamics of C to N exchagen and the genetic controls. This Project was merged with a Human Frontiers Science Project obtained from Toby Kiers and Hirokazu Toju (link in the buttons).

ClimGrass

Main participants: Michael Bahn (PI), Andreas Richter (PI), Wolfgang Wanek (PI), Alberto Canarini (Collaborator) and many others

In this project we used a unique experiment manipulating multiple climate change factors (warming, elevated CO2 and drought) at multiple levels. The climate change manipulations started in 2014 and since then we carried multiple projects investiganting: microbial growth, nutrient cycles, plant C transfer, GHG emissions etc.

Amazon Imbalance P

Main participants: Lucia Fuchslueger (PI), Alberto Canarini (Collaborator) and many others

I have been collaborating to this project investigating the role of microorganisms for the phosphorous cycle in the Amazon forest

Admont long term nutrient deficiency

Main participants: Andreas Richter (PI), Christina Kaiser (Collaborator), Alberto Canarini (Collaborator) and many others

In this project we used a unique experiment manipulating multiple fertilization level (N, P, K and manure) spanning 70 years. In this project we investigate the effects of such long-term nutrient fertilization on the microbial community and nutrient cycling. See in the buttons above two abstract presented from a PhD student (Kian Jenab) working on the arbuscular mycorrhizae part of the project.

ForHot grassland warming

Main participants: Andreas Richter (PI), Alberto Canarini (Collaborator) and many others

We study the effects of warming on a grassland in Iceland.

SHARInG-MeD: Soil Health and Agriculture Resilience through an Integrated Geographical Information Systems of Mediterranean Drylands

Main participants: Elisabet Aranda (PI), Maria del Mar Lopez Rodrigues (PhD), Alberto Canarini (Collaborator) and many others

This project aims to develop a comprehensive soil monitoring framework that integrates various indicators – physicochemical, biological, agronomic, economic, and environmental– to enhance the sustainability of agriculture in the Mediterranean area. The project is funded by the PRIMA EU projects.