Extrafloral nectary tree-driven soil carbon sequestration

Yumei Pan, Xiaojuan Liu, Michael Staab, and Naili Zhang, Beijing Forestry University in China, discuss their article: Soil carbon sequestration: Facilitated effect of extrafloral nectary trees in a diverse subtropical forest Carbon: Crucial role in climate change mitigation Soil organic matter dynamics and carbon sequestration are critical for mitigating climate change. Forest soils, which account…

How Does Drought Reshape Nitrogen Cycling in Subtropical Evergreen Broad-Leaved Forests? Insights from Zhejiang Tiantong Station

Songbo Tang, Jianyang Xia, and Liming Yan, East China Normal University, discusses their article: Long-term drought triggers contrasting responses of foliar stable nitrogen isotopes and soil available nitrogen in a subtropical forest Introduction: The Hidden Link Between Drought and Nitrogen Dynamics As climate change intensifies, drought events increasingly threaten the functionality of global forest ecosystems.…

High-altitude allies: Alpine plants and their fungal partners

Skylar Burg, University of Jyväskylä in Finland, discusses her article: Abiotic conditions along altitude shape plant-fungal associations by influencing both fungal availability and association strength Setting out in the mountains High in the mountainous tundra of Norway, Sweden, and Finland, the perennial herb Bistorta vivipara, known as alpine bistort, thrives in conditions that challenge most…

Longer growing seasons don’t mean more growth: How seasonal climates shape tree wood growth in the southern Altai Mountains

Wenjin Wang, Zhejiang University in China, discusses their article: Seasonal climate variations drive decoupling between the duration and amount of xylem growth along a hydrothermal gradient in the southern Altai Mountains Climate change is transforming forests across the world. A key question many ecologists and forest managers are asking is: will warmer temperatures lead to…

Making robust projections of species distributions at fine resolution: Go spatially-nested

Antoine Guisan, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, discusses his article: Spatially-nested species distribution models (N-SDM): An effective tool to overcome niche truncation for better inference and projections Setting the scene Species distribution models (SDMs) relate species observations to mapped environmental conditions to estimate the ecological niche (i.e., the ensemble of suitable conditions) and predict the spatial distribution…

Predicting the unpredictable: Modelling the distribution of plant-associated microbes with species distribution models

Sarah Ishak, Université du Québec à Montréal, discusses their article: Modelling the distribution of plant-associated microbes with species distribution models The array of bacteria, fungi, protists, viruses, and archaea that live inside or outside of plant tissue, AKA plant-associated microbes, perform functions that vary from beneficial to parasitic to simply neutrally existing with the plant.…

The humble broom

Peter Thomas, Keele University, UK and Marion Giertych, University of Zielona Góra and Institute of Dendrology PAS, Poland, discuss their article: Biological Flora of Britain and Ireland: Cytisus scoparius, in English and Polish Broom (Cytisus scoparius), a non-spiny relative of gorse (Ulex species), is a delightful shrub native across Europe in open areas. What makes…

How Do Dry Conditions Affect Carbon Movement in Bamboo Forests?

Xiaogai Ge, from the Research Institute of Subtropical Forestry of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, and Mai-He Li, from the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow, and Landscape Research in Switzerland, discuss their article: Drought Decreases Carbon Flux but Not Transport Speed of Newly Fixed Carbon from Leaves to Sinks in a Giant Bamboo Forest…

Climate and mycorrhizal type shape global plant nitrogen dynamics

Qiong Chen and Zuoqiang Yuan, Northwestern Polytechnical University in China, discuss their article: Global mycorrhizal status drives leaf δ15N patterns Nitrogen: A Vital Nutrient for Plants Nitrogen is a crucial nutrient for plants. It plays a vital role in their growth, development, and overall productivity. The availability of nitrogen is a key factor in understanding…