Mofette field work

Felix, Carsten, and Denise went to the field this week to collect soil samples from a mofette in the Hartousov region of the Czech Republic. We had amazing weather--almost 30ºC!! and sun the whole day. Soil samples were primarily collected for Carsten's bachelors thesis, in which he will measure enzyme activities over the soil profile. 

Carsten and Felix taking samples from a soil core (0-50 cm depth).

Anti-Ochre field work

Juanjuan, Maren, and Carolin went to the field this week to sample iron ochres from Vattenfall wells. They were able to sample ochres and groundwater from 9 wells at 2 locations. They are planning to investigate differences in microbial communities and iron cycling in the different wells.
Juanjuan and Carolin are excited for the weeks of work ahead!

Carolin and Juanjuan preparing microcosms in the anoxic chamber.

iDiv is funded!!!

On 27 April 2012, the University Alliance Halle-Jena-Leipzig was awarded a joint national research centre for biodiversity research to be located in Leipzig.

The four designated directors, Christian Wirth (University Leipzig), Helge Bruelheide (Martin-Luther university Halle), Francois Buscot (Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research) and Kirsten Küsel (Friedrich Schiller University Jena) celebrated the positive outcome of the joint effort.

iDiv - German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research

Image from http://www.idiv-biodiversity.de/

iDiv, the German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research, is a hub for international biodiversity science with its central mission to promote theory-driven synthesis and data-driven theory. iDiv is based in Leipzig and jointly hosted by the University of Leipzig (UL), the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU), and the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (FSU), all of which have a strong tradition in biodiversity sciences.

The expertise of the consortium is strongly enhanced by eight non-university institutions – the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI BGC), the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology (MPI CE), the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (MPI EVA), the Leibniz Institute of Plant Biochemistry (IPB), the Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics and Crop Plant Research (IPK), the Leibniz Institute Senckenberg Museum of Natural History (SMNG), and the Leibniz Institute German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures (DSMZ).

EGU 2012, Vienna

Kirsten and Denise joined the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly 2012 in Vienna, Austria from 22 – 27 April. They both presented in the session “Nexus between microbes, metals and minerals in the environment” (BG7.2), convened by Harish Veeramani, Virginia Tech, USA.

Kirsten was a keynote speaker for the session and the title of her talk was “Cold war biogeochemistry: Microbes as architects for metal attenuation”. In addition, Kirsten was awarded the distinction of EAG Eminent Speaker 2012. Information about the award and her video interview can be found here.

Kirsten receiving the EAG Eminent Speaker award from Harish Veeramani

Denise and Franziska Schäffner (from FSU Jena's Inst. of Earth Sciences) presented invited posters about their work at the Gessenwiese test field on Thursday.

Kirsten and Denise enjoyed the conference and also took some time to visit the sites in Vienna. It is a beautiful city with rich culture and too much to see in between conference sessions! We can only hope to go back to have more time to explore.