Out last week for data collection in Unterpremstätten for our functional ecology field course 🌿🔬 Despite the cold weather the students were motivated as ever! Amazing to see classroom theory come to life in the field. 🍃🔍

#UniversityCourse #FunctionalEcology #FieldWork

We were very happy to be actively participating in the Symposium on Bacterial Genetics and Ecology, with great talks from Stefanie, Minsu, and Bettina.

#BAGECO2025 #ScienceTalks #Biocrusts

Maier presented 'In situ tracking of soil invisibles: Simultaneous monitoring of soil microbes, soil chemicals, and soil gases'.

Pfingstl presented 'BIOMES: The Pillars of Soil – Monitoring and Documenting Arthropod Soil Biodiversity to Assess Soil Quality and Implement Measures for Soil Management and Renaturation'.

The research projects align with the EU mission ‘A Soil Deal for Europe’, which aims to establish sustainable soil management in urban and rural areas. 🔗 research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/fund...

Soil for everyone — everyone for the soil!

Tobias Pfingstl and Stefanie Maier from the Institute of Biology were invited to present their projects, which are funded by the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW), at the Soil Forum's spring conference. 🔗 www.umweltbundesamt.at/bodenforum/f...

Our study, showing how deep learning can be applied to distinguish liverworts of the genus Riccia, has been published! Check it out here: doi.org/10.1016/j.ec...
#NewPublication #DeepLearning #Liverworts

Yesterday, Lina, Luciano, and @jannecreve.bsky.social had a successful day in the field, shovelling snow for a climate change experiment near the Großglockner!

#Alpine #Fieldwork #SnowRemoval #ClimateChange #ScienceInAction

Great day at Helsinki Day, our PhD symposium at the Institute of Biology - @uni-graz.at!
Our PhD students @philophil89.bsky.social and @jannecreve.bsky.social presented their research, and Janne won Best Talk 🏆! Read more on our newspage: diversitaet-oekologie.uni-graz.at/en/news/hels...

After the talk by @panemma.bsky.social , we enjoyed a great dinner and inspiring discussions! Always great to connect with passionate researchers over good food. 👍

This week, our research group hosted Professor Emma Sayer (@panemma.bsky.social) from the University of Ulm, who shared insights from the Gigante Litter Manipulation Project on tropical tree growth, nutrient cycling, and greenhouse gases. #TropicalForests #Litterfall #Cryptogams #NutrientCycling

We are happy that Lina Clasen, Luciano Silva, and Ruilin Chen joined our team to support our research on microbial communities and their roles in biogeochemical cycling under the effects of global change!🌍

With the next field work, we’re excited to return to this stunning alpine environment - a breath-taking but challenging place to work.
Stay tuned for updates, and feel free to reach out with questions! 👇

#Science #Ecology #ClimateChange #AlpineResearch #Biocrusts #Alps #PhDLife

🌍 Investigating Climate Change Effects on Alpine Biocrusts ❄️🌱
How do alpine biocrusts respond to rising temperatures and changing snow conditions?

🌿 Welcome to the Functional Diversity and Ecology Group (AG Bettina Weber) @uni-graz.at Graz on Bluesky! 🎉