Spatial and temporal changes in environmental conditions over billions of years have driven the evolution of diverse microbial, fungal and plant species that have shaped the ecosystems, atmosphere and climate of our Earth system. Understanding the function and resilience of organisms and our biomes in response to climatic change and their complex feedbacks requires knowledge of its component parts ...[Read More]
Guest post: Pal(a)eoPERCS
June 2020, amidst a global COVID-19 pandemic where social distancing and isolation brought the world to a standstill, a grassroots seminar series (Pal(a)eoPERCS) was started with the aim to bolster scholarly engagement and create a convivial space through weekly virtual seminars for Early Career Researchers and Professionals (ECRs). Three years later, with June 2023 quickly approaching, Pal(a)eoP ...[Read More]
The sedaDNA scientific society, a collaborative network of international researchers working with sedimentary ancient DNA
Emergence of the field of molecular paleoecology Sequencing DNA of organisms that died a long time ago sounds like the synopsis of the movie Jurassic Park (1993). Let’s make it clear right now, dinosaur DNA has never been collected by humans. To date, the oldest DNA recovered is more than one million years old and comes from mammoths. In addition to the DNA recovered from fossils, aquatic and terr ...[Read More]
The hidden importance of Amazon forests
Figure 1. Minirhizotron image acquisition in the field near Manaus, Brazil (photo credit Caroline Miron From different parts of continental Brazil, now working in different areas of Germany, we, three women scientists, share one more thing in common: our interest in making the hidden importance of the Amazon forest visible. In other words, we are root-nerds! Studying something that cannot i ...[Read More]
Meet your BG team 2022/23
The Biogeosciences division is pleased to have substantially grown over the last year! In this blog post we’ll introduce you to our new representatives and detail how you can get involved in BG activities over the next year. President: Lisa Wingate (INRAE) Lisa (she/her) has been president of the BG division since 2020 and has been elected to serve until 2025. She works as a researche ...[Read More]
What more can we do as climate scientists to address climate change?
Fig 1 — Artist impression of Earth (source: Unsplash, Elena Mozhvilo) The much anticipated COP26 — even more so because of its postponement — is now already a few months behind us. There has been a lot of attention in the media, including on the BG blog. We have seen mixed reactions following the final statement at COP26: ranging from disappointment about lack of ambition to realism ...[Read More]
Meet Adina Paytan- Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky medal winner 2022
We spoke to Dr. Adina Paytan, Research Scientist at the Institute of Marine Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz and Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky medal winner for 2022. The Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky medal is awarded annually by the Biogeosciences division to those who make an exceptional contribution to biogeosciences. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how your career pr ...[Read More]
Meet Ana Bastos, the Outstanding Early Career Scientist awardee of the Biogeosciences Division!
This year, Ana Bastos has received the Outstanding Early-career scientist award of the Biogeosciences Division. The BG team wants to truly congratulate them on this achievement! In this interview, we would like to know a bit more about their research and career, seeking inspiration for the young generation of biogeoscientists. Could you explain a bit about yourself and what made you choose a caree ...[Read More]
Write for the BG Blog!
We are delighted to be able to invite members of the Biogeosciences community to contribute to our division blog. This is a fantastic opportunity to share your research, fieldwork or opinion/comment piece. Our editors will work with you to perfect your posts and we will share the blog through our social media channels to ensure it reaches a wide audience. We will be accepting blog posts in the fol ...[Read More]
Looking back at our first BG campfire.
The BG division is extremely excited about including campfire events in our regular program. Campfires are informal events where we would like to bring together the biogeosciences community to discuss, learn or implement new ideas. To do so, we first wanted to know what the hottest topics are that interest our members. We celebrated the first BG campfire event last May 27th. It was an exciting mee ...[Read More]