After extensive preparation, today we successfully mapped nutrient hotspots in soil—such as root zones, fungal hyphae, and the detritusphere—at the interfaces between organic and mineral components using scanning electron microscopy.
This work is part of a collaborative project with Luise Brandt and other colleagues at the University of Hohenheim, supported by the DFG Priority Program on Infrastructure within the Biodiversity Exploratories.
We are particularly excited about the upcoming NanoSIMS analyses, which will allow us to trace the fate of carbon and nitrogen within the rhizosphere and hyphosphere at the microscale.