The Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) with its 1,100 employees has gained an excellent reputation as an international competence centre for environmental sciences. We are part of the largest scientific organisation in Germany, the Helmholtz association. Our mission: Our research seeks to find a balance between social development and the long-term protection of our natural resources.
The jobThe plant microbiome, i.e. the community of associated microorganisms, plays a crucial role for mutual acclimation to environmental changes and the subsequent evolutionary adaptation (A&A). Beneficial microbes can enhance plant tolerance traits against stress, which reinforces shoot and root protection by modifying phytohormonal levels, antioxidant and enzyme production, osmotic adjustment or biofilm formation to increase water and nutrient uptake, gas exchange and water use efficiency. Since these findings were mainly retrieved from studies on crops or herbaceous plants, it remains little investigated how trees and their microbiomes react to environmental changes, including more frequent and intensified droughts and pathogenic pressures. Hence, this project aims to investigate, how oak-associated microorganisms respond to various environmental conditions and stresses. Considering the endogenous rhythmic growth and the modularity of the oak, the project intends to determine an oak core microbiome and characterize key stone taxa, which enhance resilience against the applied stressors. The project uses molecular sequencing tools to monitor bacteria and fungi associated with above- and belowground compartments of clonal oak saplings in an Ecotron and Tree Canopy Exposition Experiments, and along the PhytOakmeter field monitoring sites. The project is embetted in the Research Unit 5571 “PhytOakmeter” (https: // www. uni-marburg.de/en/fb17/phytoakmeter) funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG).
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