In current projects we follow the decomposition of deadwood in a large long-term experiment, the so called BELongDead experiment in Germany [link]. There we analyze changes of the molecular microbial community (fungi and prokaryotes), their extracellular enzymes and changes in the decomposing wood (e.g. element content and lignin amount). Accompanying, we isolate wood decomposing fungi and genome-sequencing them. Thus we gain molecular information, like for example the number of genes potentially involved in lignocellulose decomposition or their activity.
Specific interest I have in rare red list fungi, especially from wood of old-growth forest like the Bavarian Forest National Park. We grow these fungi in the lab to analyze their performance and give it to partners, which analyze their metabolites.
In other projects with partners from other Universities, I analyze microbial communities in vinyard soils or grapewine wood.
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