Cool!
10.03.2026 10:42
👍 3
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
I agree with you; however, what distinguishes soil resilience from persistence is that the latter is focused on loss of soils entirely (erosion), rather than diminishing functionality. But there is overlap, of course, especially in terms of operationalization.
09.03.2026 12:43
👍 1
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Even though, if we talk about shifts in soil types, this is a different time scale.
Persistence for how long, I guess this is the question. And can we get information about long-term persistence from short term measurements?
09.03.2026 07:19
👍 0
🔁 0
💬 1
📌 0
Thanks for your question. I think you bring up a very important point. I don't have the full answer, but I also don't think all soil forming processes would need to be stopped for this idea to work. As long as you have a soil, it has persisted. I think a certain dynamic is included
09.03.2026 07:19
👍 0
🔁 0
💬 1
📌 0
Any thoughts on this? Does soil have a goal, like persistence?
09.03.2026 05:59
👍 3
🔁 0
💬 1
📌 0
thanks!
07.03.2026 07:34
👍 1
🔁 0
💬 1
📌 0
Danke!
06.03.2026 19:21
👍 1
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Looks like I need to celebrate: just crossed the 100 K citations on google scholar
🤩🍸
06.03.2026 09:48
👍 18
🔁 0
💬 2
📌 0
Operationalizing soil persistence
Why focus on soil persistence and how to measure it
Operationalizing soil persistence; this week's substack. Curious about what you think, please let me know...currently writing on this.
matthiasrillig.substack.com/p/operationa...
05.03.2026 18:16
👍 5
🔁 0
💬 1
📌 1
A new greenhouse experiment themed around soil restoration is up and running. This experiment explores a new experimental design and is headed by Rebecca Rongstock and Huiying Li.
04.03.2026 13:38
👍 7
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Paper just accepted:
Global patterns and drivers of soil microbial nitrogen and phosphorus use efficiency
Will share details of open-access paper once available
03.03.2026 19:16
👍 7
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Earthworm Casting Drives Soil Microplastic Upward Transport and the Formation of Biogenic Polymer Aggregates
Earthworms act as key ecosystem engineers influencing the distribution of soil microplastics (MPs), however, the residence, transport, and fate of these particles within the drilosphere, particularly within biogenic cast aggregates, remain poorly understood. Here, we combined a field survey of 43 paired soil-cast samples across three agricultural land-use scenarios with complementary laboratory soil column experiments to elucidate earthworm-driven MP dynamics. The field survey revealed ubiquitous in situ MP occurrence and upward fluxes from bulk soils to casts, with transport efficiency modulated by soil clay and organic carbon contents. Laboratory simulations using epigeic and anecic species validated that different ecotypes actively ingest MPs from source soils and deposit them in surface casts. Crucially, both field and laboratory data demonstrated a significant reduction in particle size in casts compared to soil (6.48% and 19.8%, respectively), supporting the potential earthworm effects on MP mechanical attrition. Polymer compositions in casts mirrored those in soils, exhibiting a nonselective and passive ingestion pathway. Beyond physical transport, the formation of field biogenic polymer aggregates facilitated chemical aging of MPs, as evidenced by elevated oxidation indices. This process was likely accelerated by the enrichment of plastic-degrading microbial taxa (e.g., Flavobacterium) within casts, which exhibited up to a 35.6-fold increase in relative abundance. Collectively, these findings highlight the dual role of soil-engineering invertebrates in driving the vertical redistribution and physicochemical degradation of MPs in agricultural systems.
New paper out:
Huang et al. w/ Deyi Hou
Earthworm Casting Drives Soil Microplastic Upward Transport and the Formation of Biogenic Polymer Aggregates
pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
02.03.2026 08:37
👍 8
🔁 3
💬 0
📌 0
“It’s a disease superhighway.” The shocking new ecosystem that’s evolving in our oceans | Discover Wildlife
A unique synthetic ecosystem is evolving in our oceans – welcome to the plastisphere
Article in BBC Wildlife on microplastics in the ocean, also featuring a short section on soil (in which I am quoted).
“It’s a disease superhighway.” The shocking new ecosystem that’s evolving in our oceans
www.discoverwildlife.com/environment/...
25.02.2026 06:10
👍 2
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Oh wow, congratulations!
23.02.2026 05:56
👍 1
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
On the bullet train to Sendai for my visit at Tohoku University. I am in the red one...😀
18.02.2026 08:06
👍 17
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Very happy to be back in Okinawa at OIST, if only for a few days this time.
@oistedu.bsky.social
17.02.2026 13:14
👍 8
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
You were super! 😀
17.02.2026 13:08
👍 1
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Congrats, Dr. Stewart. It was an honor to be there. 😀
17.02.2026 13:07
👍 6
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Visiting Amsterdam earlier this week for the defense of @thecrobe.bsky.social & catching up with friends, also seeing some amazing facilities and research.
12.02.2026 18:37
👍 8
🔁 0
💬 1
📌 0
No. I dream with images...
08.02.2026 21:00
👍 1
🔁 0
💬 0
📌 0
Many people have no mental imagery. What’s going on in their brains?
People with aphantasia are offering a window into consciousness.
Very interesting to me, especially since I have aphantasia. I wonder what it's like to have active mental imagery.
Many people have no mental imagery. What’s going on in their brains?
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
08.02.2026 09:12
👍 8
🔁 1
💬 1
📌 0
