Dr. Adriana Torres-Ballesteros

Great to hear the talk from a visiting professor from South Africa with the MMEG team. Inspiring exchange on how plant microbiomes are studied across continents. 🌍🧬 #MicrobiomeResearch #GlobalCollaboration”

Busy times in the lab with the MMEG team, processing ~1000 rhizosphere samples from the Watkins collection. Exciting collaborative effort uncovering plant-microbe interactions at scale! @rothamsted.bsky.social

📢New paper! One fifth of global farmland contaminated by toxic metals @science.org
Data from 800,000 soil samples identified a high-risk zone stretching across southern Europe, the Middle East, and South Asia.
Read the full story 👇
www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/fifth-g...

Guidelines for improved quantification and reporting of carbon stocks and additional carbon storage in agroforestry systems - Agroforestry Systems The number of scientific publications related to biomass carbon or soil organic carbon under various land management practices has globally and dramatically increased during the last two decades, the ...

Carbon #sequestration in #agroforestry 🌳 🌽 🥑 🐄 is a hot topic.
Here we provide #openaccess guidelines to improve the quantification & reporting of carbon stocks in #soils & #biomass & additional #carbon storage in agroforestry systems, and to maximize manuscript acceptance.
doi.org/10.1007/s104...

A successful event organised by @rothamsted.bsky.social and the @uhertfordshireucu.bsky.social offered valuable insights into emerging bioscience technologies and industry trends. Highlights included an exceptional panel of women sharing diverse career paths in science

Turns out, you can hear the soil! Incredible day at the crop transition experiment in Rothamsted—learning from colleagues about sampling techniques and key scientific questions to enhance soil health. #SoilScience #RegenerativeAgriculture @rothamsted.bsky.social

Celebrating #InternationalWomensDay at @rothamsted.bsky.social with amazing speakers, inspiring action for gender equality in science and farming. Grateful for the work of @SpeakOutRev driving change for inclusive workplaces! #IWD2025 #WomenInSTEM #WomenInAg

A framework for integrating genomics, microbial traits, and ecosystem biogeochemistry - Nature Communications Microbes drive the Earth’s biogeochemical cycles. Here, Li et al. present a framework for integrating genome-inferred microbial kinetic traits into ecosystem mechanistic models, and use it to benchmar...

Cool paper.

"We developed a general genome-to-ecosystem (G2E) framework for integrating genome-inferred microbial kinetic traits into mechanistic models of terrestrial ecosystems .. benchmarking predictions against observed greenhouse gas emissions"

doi.org/10.1038/s414...

Exciting day at the animation training with Will at @rothamsted.bsky.social! Learning how to bring science to life through #Animation, #ScienceCommunication, and #Storytelling

It’s hard to carry on with daily life when all hell breaks loose in the world. So small joys are so important now - look at this cutie that my student Lauri Laaspere put together! Can you guess what is going on? #soil

Had a fantastic time speaking at @cafesci-harpenden.bsky.social Grateful for the chance to turn my talk into a conversation—I learned so much about what captures interest in climate change and microbial ecology research #climatechange @rothamsted.bsky.social @ipcc.bsky.social

📢New paper: novel seed germination model will give breeders more predictive accuracy for seed development and growth 🌱
Full story 👇
www.rothamsted.ac.uk/news/new-see...

“Busy start to 2025! Freeze-drying soil samples from Wakelyns for PLFA analysis & DNA extraction, tackling plenty of admin, and squeezing in some fun at #FOG2025 Festival of Genomics in London. #SoilScience #Microbiology #Genomics #PLFA #DNAExtraction #Agroecology”

Conflito hídrico ameaça vida de povos originários na Volta Grande do Xingu Funcionamento da usina de Belo Monte tem prejudicado atividades cotidianas das populações e a reprodução de espécies nativas

Uma pesquisa na região do Xingu (PA) aponta os impactos da hidrelétrica de Belo Monte e da estiagem extrema. A redução da vazão da Volta Grande compromete a biodiversidade e afeta indígenas e ribeirinhos

This visualisation highlights the number of keynote, lightning, and regular talks at posit::conf(2023), with specific emphasis on those presented by speakers affiliated with Posit. Talks from Posit-affiliated speakers are identified by white hexagons, while the rest are shown in grey

For #TidyTuesday this week, we're looking at posit::conf() talks data! 🧇 I made a simple waffle chart using {ggimage} to show how many speakers listed an affiliation with Posit in 2023 📊

Code: github.com/nrennie/tidy...

#RStats #ggplot2 #DataViz

A Global Relationship Between Genome Size and Encoded Carbon Metabolic Strategies of Soil Bacteria We combined a global-scale meta-analysis of 2650 genomes, information on whole-genome sequencing, and a continental-scale metagenomic field study. We found that genome size was tightly associated wit...

📢 New paper in Ecology Letters on assigning Y-yield and A-acquisition strategies of our YAS framework using genomics data; genome size came out as a significant factor.

Led by Xingjie Wu, Jingjing Peng and Shuo Jiao.

doi.org/10.1111/ele....

Science storytelling: Telling a story with data Humans are story junkies, our brains evolved to love them. This blog post describes how you can tell stories with data by incorporating the essential story elements into your scientific paper.

Science Storytelling: Telling a Story with Data annaclemens.com/blog/story-s...

Last December, we wrapped up the year with more training on the X-ray CT scanner, attended the MMEG meeting in Southampton, and organised social activities for Early Career Researchers, including making Christmas decorations. #ECRSupport #SoilScience #XRayCT #ScienceCommunity #STEMEvents

In November, we held grant-writing training for Early Career Researchers at Rothamsted. Sampled at Wakelyns to explore agroforestry benefits and welcomed UKRI visitors to showcase how our X-ray CT scanner is unlocking soil’s secrets. #Agroforestry #SoilScience #ECRSupport @rothamsted.bsky.social

In October, I visited the Allerton Project to explore farmer engagement strategies. Used VGStudio to track roots in sand, processed soil samples with MMEG, and presented our X-ray CT scanner with Dr. Kamrun Suravi to visitors & Rothamsted teams. #SoilHealth #AgTech #XRayCT #ScienceInAction

library(tidyplots) study %>% tidyplot(x = score, y = treatment, color = treatment) %>% add_mean_bar(alpha = 0.3) %>% add_sem_errorbar() %>% add_data_points() %>% adjust_colors(colors_discrete_apple) %>% adjust_legend_position("top") %>% remove_y_axis()

There are three main verbs in #tidyplots

- add 👉 to add elements to the plots
- adjust 👉 to modify elements in the plot
- remove 👉 to remove elements from the plot

#rstats #dataviz #phd

Our next talk on Café Scientifique - Harpenden would be effects of micro-organisms on climate change. Please see the attached flyer for details, and hope that you can join us.

In September, back in England, we joined Lates Night at the #ScienceMuseum, playing the BLAST game. Back in the lab, we continued our carbon sequestration experiments in collaboration with a visiting professor from Malaysia and the #biophysics team at @rothamsted.bsky.social #SMLates

Last August, I presented at #ISME, the top conference for microbial ecologists, and a dream come true! It was my first ISME oral presentation. ISME’s first time in Africa made it extra special, as I spoke in the Microbial Ecology & #ClimateChange session. Grateful for the kind compliments on my talk

In July, we had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Natalia Sierra from the University of Aveiro.We’re exploring the potential of synthetic microbial communities to boost crop yields. Check out these impressive bean #nodules from our #crop transition experiment, collected the same month after harvest!

One of June’s highlights was our participation in Groundswell, where we engaged with farmers to discuss technologies for sustainable farming and shared, according to science, which soil features promote healthier, more resilient ecosystems. 🌱 #Groundswell2024 #Sustainability @rothamsted.bsky.social

In May, I chaired and presented at the Soil Sensing Workshop, met top IPCC leaders, and began building the Biosphere and Climate Resilience Network with collaborators at @uspoficial.bsky.social also learned how to collaborate with farmers to tackle climate change together. #ClimateAction #SoilHealth

In April, we planted wheat seeds in tank experiments, tested a new bamboo 3D printer, explored exciting collaborations in Kenya, and assisted on supervising a PhD student investigating how plants communicate with soil bacteria. 🌱🌍🔬 #ScienceInAction #SoilHealth @sandracortes.bsky.social

In March, my undergraduate student from Colombia presented a poster on using #bacteria and #MachineLearning to remediate Chromium VI in the Bogotá River. We were also honored to chair Science Day at the University of Hertfordshire. 🌍💡 #Research #EnvironmentalScience

Back in February, I expanded my skill set as a microbial ecologist by diving into CT scanning to study soil structure and gas diffusion. I also completed full training in #VGStudio Max for data analysis—it’s such a powerful (and fun!) tool to work with!