Fernando T. Maestre
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ftmaestre.bsky.social
Fernando T. Maestre
@ftmaestre.bsky.social

Professor of Environmental Science and Engineering #KAUST Husband, father, dryland ecologist & runner. PI #Maestrelab

Environmental science 40%
Agriculture 29%

📸 Microscopic image of hyphae of Aspergillus niger, which causes a disease known as "black mold" on certain fruits and vegetables and is a common contaminant of food. Photo by Y_tambe, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

Many thanks to all co-authors and collaborators involved in this global effort led by Yawen Lu & Carlos A. Guerra

In our latest paper, just published in @natcomms.nature.com we show that soil conditions, landscape structure & land-use change shape global soil pathogenic fungal diversity. Landscape complexity and crops increase diversity, while grass and tree cover reduce it www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Plant phenolics play a key roles in plant strategies.

Here we explore the drivers of phenolic content in plants over 1800 species across global drylands 🧪🌐

➡️https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2745.70222

Reposted by Nicolas Gross

Just published in @natecoevo.nature.com: using data from the @erc.europa.eu funded BIODESERT dryland survey, we show that plant diversity strongly enhances ecosystem resistance to increasing grazing pressure. Conserving biodiversity is key to sustaining dryland rangelands worldwide rdcu.be/eXY6D

Read the paper (#openaccess) here: besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Reposted by Ning Chen

Just published in @journalofecology.bsky.social Using data from 1,854 plant species coming from the @erc.europa.eu funded #BIODESERT survey, we show how climate & grazing jointly shape leaf phenolics—key defence compounds—across global drylands. Great work led by PhD student Kaarina Shilula

A few years ago I shared my @erc.europa.eu Starting Grant proposal (BIOCOM) openly on @figshare.com doi.org/10.6084/m9.f... I never imagined it would reach over 14K views and >6K downloads. A reminder of why sharing proposals & experiences matters—for those coming after us

Reposted by Michael McFaul, Timothy Snyder, Mark Galeotti , and 548 more