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Soil carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) availability depend on the breakdown of soil polymers such as lignin, chitin, and protein that represent the major fraction of soil C and N but are too large for immediate uptake by plants and microorganisms. Microorganisms may adjust the production of enzymes targeting different polymers to optimize the balance between C and N availability and demand, and for inst
Frequency-dependent (FD) selection is a central process maintaining genetic variation and mediating evolution of population fitness. FD selection has attracted interest from researchers in a wide range of biological subdisciplines, including evolutionary genetics, behavioural ecology and, more recently, community ecology. However, the implications of frequency dependence for applied biological pro
Climate change will alter precipitation patterns with consequences for soil C cycling. An understanding of how fluctuating soil moisture affects microbial processes is therefore critical to predict responses to future global change. We investigated how long-term experimental field drought influences microbial tolerance to lower moisture levels (“resistance”) and ability to recover when rewetted af
Microbial decomposers are responsible for the breakdown of organic matter (OM) and thus regulate soil carbon (C) stocks. During the decomposition of OM, microorganisms can use the assimilated C for biomass production or respire it as CO2, and the fraction of growth to total assimilation defines the microbial carbon-use efficiency (CUE). As such, CUE has direct consequences for how microbial decomp
The four main findings about the age and abundance structure of the Milky Way bulge based on microlensed dwarf and subgiant stars are: (1) a wide metallicity distribution with distinct peaks at [Fe/H] = -1.09, -0.63, -0.20, +0.12, +0.41; (2) a high fraction of intermediate-age to young stars where at [Fe/H] > 0 more than 35 % are younger than 8 Gyr, (3) several episodes of significant star formati
The extent to which ectomycorrhizal (ECM) fungi enable plants to access organic nitrogen (N) bound in soil organic matter (SOM) and transfer this growth-limiting nutrient to their plant host, has important implications for our understanding of plant–fungal interactions, and the cycling and storage of carbon (C) and N in terrestrial ecosystems. Empirical evidence currently supports a range of persp
In the wake of the arrival of cloud computing, future applications are poised to become more resilient and adaptive by embracing elasticity in an osmotic manner. Although cloud computing is a strong attractor for application developers, thereare still unconquered performance frontiers. Latency-sensitive and missioncritical applications make up a significant portion of all software systems, and the
1. Often, closely related insect species feed on different host plant species, and the tremendous diversity of phytophagous insects is therefore attributed to host plant-driven speciation. However, for most taxa, host use information comes from field observations of egg-laying females or feeding caterpillars, which means that the underlying reason for a particular host-affiliation is not easily de
Vascular risk factors are believed to be involved in dementia development by increasing risk of the most common dementia types, Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and vascular dementia. The aim of this thesis was to study if risk factors affect key brain pathology directly, by using biomarkers for dementia in preclinical stages, and to assess previous findings in a large population-based setting.Paper I: ar
Floral scent is a crucial trait for pollinator attraction. Yet only a handful of studies have estimated selection on scent in natural populations and no study has quantified the relative importance of pollinators and other agents of selection. In the fragrant orchid Gymnadenia conopsea, we used electroantennographic data to identify floral scent compounds detected by local pollinators and quantifi
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