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PhD Exchange 2025

Join us for the PhD Scientific Exchange: Remote Sensing, Plant Phenotyping & Biomass Production between the Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center Members and Forschungszentrum Jülich. Registration & Info

Date: November 4, 2025
Time: 9:00–18:00
Location: ETH Zurich – Hönggerberg, Building HIT E23, Wolfgang-Pauli-Strasse 27

News from the PSC Blog

This recent blog article was written by Dušan Denić who was a Doctoral Researcher at the Department of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of Zurich as well as a RESPONSE (MSCA H2020) fellow in the PhD program Science and Policy.

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Science Highlights

Global influence of soil texture on ecosystem water limitation

Wankmüller, F.J.P., Delval, L., Lehmann, P. et al., Nature 635, 631–638 (2024).

Soil texture is a key factor in shaping ecosystem responses to water stress. This study shows that sandy soils make ecosystems more sensitive to drying, while clayey soils increase sensitivity to atmospheric demand. These findings emphasize how soil properties shape plant resilience to climate change.

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Trade-off between investment in plant defense repertoires and growth

Giolai, M., Laine,A., Science386,677-680(2024).

This study highlights the trade-off between growth and immune defense in wild plants, revealing that species with larger molecular defense repertoires exhibit slower growth. However, this trade-off is not observed in agricultural plants, emphasizing the impact of domestication on plant defense strategies.

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A landscape-scale view of soil organic matter dynamics.

Doetterl, S., Berhe, A.A., Heckman, K. et al., Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 6, 67–81 (2025).

Understanding soil formation and biogeochemical complexity at the landscape scale is essential for improving predictions of soil organic matter dynamics and carbon sequestration. Addressing data gaps and incorporating diverse soil processes into models will enhance global projections of soil carbon stocks and their role in climate change mitigation.

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Plant pattern recognition receptors

Snoeck, S., Johanndrees, O., Nürnberger, T. et al., Nature Reviews Genetics (2024).

Advances in genomic and pangenomic analyses are deepening our understanding of plant immune receptors (PRRs) and their role in plant–pathogen co-evolution. Leveraging these insights, along with protein structure prediction and receptor engineering, offers new opportunities to enhance disease resistance and promote sustainable agriculture.

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Landscape diversity promotes landscape functioning in North America

Mayor, S., Altermatt, F., Crowther, T.W. et al., Commun Earth Environ 6, 28 (2025).

Landscape-level diversity, measured by the number of ecosystem types, enhances primary productivity, stability, and long-term greening trends across North America. These effects occur independently of local species diversity, highlighting the importance of ecosystem interactions at broader spatial scales.

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Additional Information

Join us for the Fachtagung Dialog Grün that will be held on June 10, 2025 at ETH Zurich, Audimax (in German).

The Fachtagung aims to bridge knowledge gaps between research, practice, and policy while promoting innovative approaches, collaboration, and sustainable agricultural systems. It will showcase solutions to reduce environmental impacts from plant protection products and farming practices.

📌 Present your research on sustainable plant protection with a poster at the Fachtagung.
Ideas, methods, or approaches that have not yet been field-tested are also welcome.
Submit your poster abstract (max. 300 words) via email to Romy Kohlmann and take the opportunity to showcase your work to a broad audience.