Geosphären-Biosphären Wechselwirkungen

12.12.2024 Juanjuan Ai's Doctoral Thesis Defense

On 12 December 2024, PhD student Juanjuan Ai successfully defended her doctoral thesis, titled “Nutrient-Access Strategies in Contrasting Top- and Subsoils: A Multi-Isotope Approach.” Juanjuan is not only the first PhD student to graduate from the GBI group but also the first PhD student to earn a doctor degree in Soil Science in the history of the University of Tübingen. Congratulations, Dr. Ai!

09.12.2024 Visit to the Esslingen Medieval Christmas Market

Firelight, music, roasted meat, hot red wine, and shopkeepers and pedestrians dressed in various medieval costumes... This was not just a festive market, but a fascinating journey back to the Middle Ages! The market perfectly recreated the medieval atmosphere, with all stalls and decorations carefully avoiding modern elements. Vendors, artists, and performers were dressed in medieval attire, and the market featured numerous traditional craft stalls, such as blacksmiths, leatherwork, pottery, and wood carving.

Nearly all members of the GBI team from different countries participated, guided by and learning from the German members about this unique Christmas market. We also enjoyed the traditional drink of German Christmas markets, Met (a warm honey-based wine fermented with yeast and water).

4.12.2024 Bavarian Breakfast

The GBI group held its regular meeting on December 4, 2024, which was combined with an exploration of an old German tradition—the Bavarian breakfast. Before embarking on this culinary journey into Bavarian culture, group leader Michaela Dippold provided an insightful explanation of the origins of this tradition and detailed its key food components. The table featured classic elements of a Bavarian breakfast: freshly baked pretzels, white sausages (Weisswurst), Bavarian cheese spread (Obazda), sweet mustard, and homemade cucumbers. Members of the diverse and international GBI group enjoyed this traditional breakfast on-site while learning about its history and cultural significance.

19-20.11.2024 Visit of Professor Gu Feng from China Agricultural University

On November 19–20, 2024, Professor Gu Feng from the College of Resource and Environmental Sciences, China Agricultural University, visited the GBI group. He has over 35 years of experience and is a leading expert working on arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbionts, and  his research focuses on enhancing phosphorus use efficiency and crop production through AM fungi.
During his visit, Prof. Gu Feng delivered an excellent presentation titled "The Biological Cooperation in the Hyphosphere," which sparked a lively, extended, and engaging discussion among GBI group members. He also visited GBI's laboratory facilities and participated in scientific meetings to explore more future collaborations.

 

30.10.2024 Good weather for playing badminton

BGI group including our professor turned lunch break into a lively badminton game, filled with laughs and friendly competition. We’re set to make this a regular tradition whenever the weather’s nice—nothing like a quick rally to brighten our day!

9-11.09.2024 Participation in the International Conference on Soil Systems Ecology - Organic Matter, Energetics and Turnover, Berlin, Germany

The members of GBI group Guodong Shao and Nataliya Bilyera participated in the conference organized by the SPP 2322 SoilSystems in the University of Humboldt in Berlin. This international conference had offered a platform for new conceptual, experimental and empirical studies on the linking of mass and energy fluxes in soil ecosystems. Guodong Shao has presented the results of EcoEnergetics project in his oral talk on the topic “ Linking soil metabolic activities and energy fluxes using diverse substrates with contrasting oxidation level”.

2-4.09.2024 Participation in the 56th Annual Conference of the German Society of Plant Nutrition, Bonn, Germany

A member of GBI group Iryna Loginova participated in the conference organized by the Institute of Crop Science and Resource Conservation of the University of Bonn. She presented an oral talk on “Impact of joint band application of biochar suspension on 33P-uptake by maize”.

18.07.2024 Preparing for a group photo: everyone has their own favorite research tool

For the new group photo, all members had to bring their favorite tool with which they work in the lab or in the field. This was a real challenge, since the tools should not be repeated. The preparation brought a lot of joy and pleasure.

18.06.2024 Hike to the Bad Urach waterfalls

We started our trip by hiking to the Hohenurach castle ruins and enjoying the wonderful view. Then we continued our hike to the mesmerizing 37m tall waterfall and had a big BBQ at the resting place. It was a fun and adventurous day trip for the members of GBI.

19-21.05.2024 Participation in Centennial Celebration and Congress of the International Union of Soil Sciences, Florence, Italy

International community of soil scientists celebrated 100 years of soil science past achievements and discussed future challenges on 19-21 May 2024 in Florence, Italy. A member of GBI Nataliya Bilyera presented an oral talk on ‘Soil  zymohraphy: a decade of enzymatic imaging in plant-soil-microbe interactions and future prospective’ at the session ‘Plant-soil-microbe interactions in the rhizosphere and their potential to address global agricultural challenges’.

03.05.2024 Hiking to Schloss Hohenentringen

GBI group of 15 people enjoyed a hike from GUZ to Schloss Hohenentringen, which took approximately 2 hours as we wandered through the forest surrounding Tübingen. Following our hike, we savored a delightful lunch inside the Schloss.

14.04-19.04.2024 Participation in EGU-2024, Vienna, Austria

29.10.2023 Fire safety

GBI group underwent an “on-hands fire safety training on the safe use of fire extinguishers”.

22.09.2023 Visit of Dean from Northwest Agricultural and Forestry University and his team to establish a Strategic Scientific Partnership

The aim of the visit was to buildup a strategic partnership initiated by Prof. Xiaohong Tian, dean of Northwest A&F University (China). The Chinese team presented institutions and scientific profiles  and discussed a visit in coming year. They had also a lab tour with a lab manager Callum Banfield. The visit ends with a dinner at Krumme Brücke to sharing cultural experience between German and Chinese scientists.

14-15.09.2023 Participation of GBI group at BioGARD Conference in Hohenheim

The members of GBI group participated in the in oral and poster presentations at the Bio-Geosphere Africa Conference 2023: Research for Diversity and Sustainable Development in the Face of Climate Change (BioGARD) organized by University of Hohenheim and the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen in Stuttgart-Hohenheim (Germany) between 14th and 15th of September 2023.

13.09.2023 Robert-Bosch final meeting

Very inspiring final meeting of Robert Bosch Stiftung Junior professorship 2017 took place in Tübingen and online with partners from SEKU, JOOUST & ICRISAT. The program (here) included many talks reporting scientific acquirements of the Junior professorship 2017 and very fruitful discussions on the results, as well as plans for the future cooperation.

03-07.09.2023 Participation of GBI group at DBG in Halle

The members of GBI group participated at the Deutsche Bodenkunde Gesselschaft meeting with oral and poster presentations.

16.08. 2023 Visit of Chinese scientists in the framework of DAAD project

The delegation from two Chinese universities - Northwest Normal University (Qingfeng Sun and Xuechen Zhang) and Ludong University (Nan Wu and Xiaohung Guo) visited GBI group on Wednesday 16th of August 2023. The visit was in the framework of the project meeting "Rhizolithes: carbonate crystallization controlled by plant type, root ecology and microbiome in various environmental conditions". It is a DAAD exchange project with China initiated by Kazem Zamanian (University of Hannover) and Qingfeng Sun (Northwest Normal University). Chinese colleagues presented their research topics, discussed current challenges in studies of rhizolithes with the GBI group members and visited the labs.

20.01.2023 Dumpling lunch to celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Rabbit at GBI group

Chinese colleaugues prepared their traditional Dumplings for the celebration of the official start for the 'Year of Rabbit' and shared their traditions with GBI group members.

09.12.2022 Christmas Party

GBI  group had the Chrismas Party with a traditional German 'Feuerzangenbowle' and many typical dishes from South African, Polish, Chinese, Indian, Nigerian and Ukrainian cuisine.

 

18.11.2022 Prof. Dr. Sandra Spielvogels' talk at the GUZ seminar

Prof. Dr. Sandra Spielvogel from the University of Kiel presented a study on the topic: ‘Organic carbon and nutrients in permafrost soils: Storage and cycling under changing climatic conditions and land-use’.

The talk presented the results of many years research on this topic including recently published paper in Nature Communication with the contribution of scientist from GBI group.

17.11.2022 Xi's Dumpling Lunch

Exchange PhD student from China Xi Zhang together with his friends prepared traditional dumplings for his farewell party at GBI group.

10-14.10.2022 JESIUM 2022 in Finland

Michaela Dippold presented a study on the topic ‘Belowground C allocation of tropical rainforests in response to drought: an ecosystem 13CO2 labeling experiment’ at Joint European Stable Isotope Users group Meeting JESIUM 2022 was held in Kuopio, Finland. The study is a part of a big joint project run in BIOSPHERE 2. Some outcome of this experiment was already published in Science.

03-06.10.2022 GBI scientists participated at PSP7 in Montevideo, Uruguay

Nataliya Bilyera and Iryna Loginova participated in a 7th Symposium on phosphorus in Soils and Plants: Towards a sustainable phosphorus utilization in agroecosystems in Montevideo, Uruguay. This symposium takes place every 4 years and gather scientists working on the topic of phosphorus worldwide. The virtual presentation has been done on the topic: 'Biological transformation of phosphorus in agricultural soil'.

27.07.2022 Garden soil sampling and birthday party

GBI group combined work and  social activity by participation in garden soil sampling.