Publications by authors named "F Buegger"
Article Synopsis
- Biocrusts are crucial for primary production and nutrient cycling in drylands, yet their role in transferring biologically fixed carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) to mineral soil is not well understood.
- Experimental studies showed that while biocrusts can modulate CO fluxes, drought severely limits their ability to uptake carbon, leading to a decline in net carbon gain.
- Climate change, particularly warming, disrupts the beneficial effects of biocrusts on mineral soil composition and diminishes biological nitrogen fixation, threatening overall soil health and ecosystem functions.
Partner specificity is a well-documented phenomenon in biotic interactions, yet the factors that determine specificity in plant-fungal associations remain largely unknown. By utilizing composite soil samples, we identified the predictors that drive partner specificity in both plants and fungi, with a particular focus on ectomycorrhizal associations. Fungal guilds exhibited significant differences in overall partner preference and avoidance, richness, and specificity to specific tree genera.
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- Biophysicochemical properties of rhizosheath are crucial for how plants adapt to drought, but our understanding of their mechanisms and how they interact with soil during drought is lacking.
- A study involving 38 varieties of Zea mays showed that drought conditions negatively impacted soil structure and affected the movement of plant carbon within the soil.
- The responses of different plant varieties to drought varied, influencing how they maintained soil structure and interacted with microbes, suggesting that these changes at the root-soil interface are key for ecosystem resilience in a changing climate.
Trees interact with a multitude of microbes through their roots and root symbionts such as mycorrhizal fungi and root endophytes. Here, we explore the role of fungal root symbionts as predictors of the soil and root-associated microbiomes of widespread broad-leaved trees across a European latitudinal gradient. Our results suggest that, alongside factors such as climate, soil, and vegetation properties, root colonization by ectomycorrhizal, arbuscular mycorrhizal, and dark septate endophytic fungi also shapes tree-associated microbiomes.
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- The study analyzes soil fungal diversity globally by examining over 4,000 topsoil samples from various ecosystems, revealing how different environmental factors influence fungal communities.
- It demonstrates the effects of temperature and precipitation on local species richness (alpha diversity) and how these factors contribute to variations in fungal composition and evolutionary relationships (beta and phylogenetic diversity).
- The research integrates fungal diversity into global biodiversity frameworks, providing maps and insights that can aid in conservation efforts and ecological studies worldwide.