Research within the Section

Soils contain most of the planet’s undiscovered biodiversity and yet we know very little about it. The soil biota is vital: they recycle nutrients, produce and consume gases that affect global climate, destroy pollutants, treat wastes and can be used for biocontrol of plant and animal pests. More importantly, soil is the largest terrestrial carbon source, where the organisms are regulating fluxes.

The research in the Section of Microbial Ecology is aiming at identifying the microorganisms that carry out carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) turnover in soils, particularly forest soils, characterize some of these processes at molecular levels and identify how they are regulated under different environmental scenarios. A major focus is on symbiotic interactions between fungi and roots of plants. In these ecologically very important associations called mycorrhizae, the fungal partner obtains photosynthetic sugars from the host plant while in return the plant receives mineral nutrients from the fungus. We are also studying parasitic interactions between fungi and soil-living nematodes. Some of these fungi can be used asbiological control agents against nematodes that cause diseases on plants and animals.

Latest Updates

• On April 09, Edith Hammer presented and defended his PhD thesis "Nutrient balance and salinity stress in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi". Faculty opponent: Prof. Roger Koide, Penn State University, USA

Posted 2010-05-01

Recent publications

• Hedh, J., Johansson, T. & Tunlid, A. (2009) Variation in host specificity and gene content in strains from genetically isolated lineages of the ectomycorrhizal fungus Paxillus involutus s. lat. Mycorrhiza, 19:549-558

• Ladygina, N., Johansson, T., Canbäck, B., Tunlid, A. and Hedlund, K. (2009) Diversity of bacteria associated with grassland soil nematodes of different feeding groups. FEMS Microbiol. Ecology 69:53-61

• Rajashekar, B., Kohler, A., Johansson, T., Martin, F., Tunlid, A. and Ahrén, D. (2009) Expansion of signal pathways in the ectomycorrhizal fungus Laccaria bicolor - evolution of nucleotide sequences and expression patterns in families of protein kinases and RAS GTPases. New Phytologist 183:365-379

• Wallander H., Mörth C.-M. & Giesler R. (2009) 15N enrichment in soil profiles in relation to microbial community composition along a chronosequence in the upheaval region of northern Sweden. Oecologia 168:87-96

Posted 2009-10-02

History

The Department/Section of Microbial Ecology was established in 1972 as an independent research unit specializing in ecological aspects of microbial life and the unit was in this year physically moved from the Department of Microbiology to a newly established Department of Ecology (at that time in the Ecology Building at Helgonavägen 5) at Lund University.

Microbial ecology research in Lund was initiated by Docent Börje Norén (1919-1983) who in 1960 became the leader of a group of students and researches. The group was first located within the Department of Plant Physiology (headed by Prof. Hans Burström) and in 1967 it moved to and merged with the new Department of Microbiology (headed by Prof. Claes Weibull).

During the years 1972-75 the group, now containing about 10 people, was studying soil microorganisms and microbial control mechanisms in soil. This direction of research was still continued after Börje Norén departure in 1975 for the Swedish Agricultural University (SLU) in Uppsala where he became professor at their Department of Microbiology

In 1975 Docent Birgit Hertz (from 1987 as a Professor) became the head of the group and continued as such until her retirement in 1989. Two main research directions developed during this period: general soil microbiology (with an emphasis on fungi) and ecology of nematophagous fungi. Both directions received international recognition, and were financed by research grants that mainly came from the Swedish Natural Science Research Council (NFR) and the Agricultural Research Council (SJFR). These two research directions were complementary, and they were further linked in the late 70's when a national project on interactions in the rhizosphere was initiated. As a logical consequence studies on mycorrhiza symbiosis started in the early 80's which have gradually developed into its strong present position.

In the 1980's the research group became more independently established. An undergraduate course in Microbial Ecology was offered for the first time in 1979.  A few years later (1982) Bengt Söderström received a position as Docent at the Lund University (the first university financed position in microbial ecology) and the group, now about 20 people became a separate division within the Department of Ecology (founded in 1985). Further funding was obtained from the university, and in 1987 a chaired  professorship in Ecological Microbiology was allocated at the Section of Microbial Ecology and the first holder was Bengt Söderström (appointed in 1990).

The Department of Ecology in 1994 moved into a new building at Sölvegatan 37. Then the section of microbial ecology has continued a very successful research activity in the areas of microbial interactions with higher organisms (nematophagous fungi and mycorrhiza) as well as microbial activity in soils. Presently (2009) the staff consist or 3 professors, 1 lecturer, 2 assistant professors, a variable number of postdocs and about 10 PhD students.

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