News

06.12.2023

Seminar Invitation "Trace elements in wild animals in Switzerland"

Sabnam and Ladina cordially invite you to a seminar on trace element analysis on roe deer, lynx, and wolves as part of the PhD project "Mercury in Terrestrial Environment in Switzerland" and master's project "Trace element concentrations in wolves and lynx organs" supervised by Prof. Dr. Adrien Mestrot in collaboration with the Institute of Fish and Wildlife Health (FIWI), University of Bern. For more information, please download the flyer.

09.11.2023

COST Action PLANTMETALS Video

The Soil Science unit is part of the COST Action PLANTMETALS and in an effort to disseminate knowledge, a vulgarisation video was produced about the importance of trace elements in soils & plants and showcase which laboratory methods are used to analyse these trace elements. This 10 min videos is very helpful to understand some of the research conducted in the Soil Science Unit. Also, you will find some footage from the cLAB featuring our own Ms. Andrea Weber and Dr. Lorenz Gfeller at about 5:00 in the video 😊.

03.11.2023

Adrien was part of a podium discussion at the 5th Global Science Film Festival, Bern Edition

The 5th Global Science Film Festival, Bern Edition, presented by the mLAB in collaboration with the Swiss Science Film Academy, took place on 28.-29. October 2023. The festival screened international feature films, documentaries and short films that link social developments with current scientific debates. The first film presented was a documentary entitled "Water.Land.Fire - International premiere", directed and written by Natalia Shevchenko and produced by Yevhen Tkach. This documentary showed the impact of the current war on the environment in Ukraine and how scientists from different disciplines are working to document what is happening in order to assess the consequences for ecosystems. The film was followed by a discussion on the ecological consequences of war and scientific work in war zones with producer Yevhen Tkach and Prof. Dr. Adrien Mestrot. Adrien introduced the joint project with Kateryna Polianska, which includes Lena Merz's BSc thesis and Luzia Klopfenstein's MSc thesis, in which soil samples from Ukraine are analysed for trace elements.

13.10.2023

Welcome Ikram!

Dr. Ikram Bakour obtained a PhD in analytical chemistry (Anglet, France), where she was interested in developing analytical methods to understand the speciation and transformations of mercury in bacteria cells. She has started a postdoc and scientific coordinator position in the soil science group from 1 October. Ikram will be working with Ursina on the release and speciation of antimony in soils upon flooding and in flooded soils, with a particular focus on the biomethylation and biovolatilisation of antimony. She will be in charge of developing new methods and direct measurements of antimony species in soils incubations and the environment.

11.10.2023

Guest speaker 17.10.2023

Dr. Yasmine Farhat is a biogeochemist with a deep passion for global food security and sustainable development. She is a post-doc at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, where she currently co-leads the Lebanese Team on an EU-sponsored project to develop and implement Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus solutions in seven different Mediterranean countries. In her talk, Yasmine Farhat summarises recent advancements in the understanding of temperature-driven increases in rice arsenic and includes her own research which utilises temperature-controlled growth chambers to simulate future levels of warming as predicted by the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). For more information, please download the flyer.

25.09.2023

Sara and Sarah defended their Master's thesis

Sara and Sarah successfully defended their Master's thesis entitled "Utilisation of drained organic soils in the St. Galler Rhine Valley and in the Grosses Moos – Needs and concerns regarding future soil use" (German: "Nutzung entwässerter, organischer Böden im St. Galler Rheintal und im Grossen Moos – Bedürfnisse und Anliegen bezüglich der künftigen Bodennutzung"). Drained, organic soils are currently under pressure due to soil degradation and different utilisation demands. In the two study areas Grosses Moos (BE / FR) and St. Galler Rheintal (SG), the perspectives of groups of actors (agriculture, ecology, authorities, research) were recorded and compared with each other in order to identify different points of view and at the same time to show common approaches to solutions. Congratulations Sara and Sarah and all the best for your future endeavours!

21.09.2023

Congratulations Dr. Lorenz Gfeller!

Lorenz successfully defended his PhD thesis entitled "Exploring the Dynamics and Distribution of Mercury and Organomercury Species in Soils: Microcosm Experiments and Field Studies." In his dissertation, Lorenz (i) demonstrated the uneven distribution of Hg and MeHg in an alpine valley, with surprisingly high MeHg concentrations in tree groves and evidence of atmospheric Hg deposition in the valley, (ii) improved MeHg extraction methods, (iii) used organo-Hg speciation and hgcA gene analyses to assess deposition of organo-Hg species, and (iv) investigated the mobilization and methylation dynamics of Hg following flooding and fertilization in contaminated soils using mesocosm experiments. We wish Lorenz all the best for his future endeavours!

21.09.2023

Hang's 1st paper has been accepted!

New paper from the One Health Consortium at UniBern on the links between soil microbiome, plants and arsenic: Hang Guan has published her first paper on her PhD thesis! Congrats Hang! The paper is titled: “The Effects of Soil Microbial Disturbance and Plants on Arsenic Concentrations and Speciation in Soil Water and Soils” and is available under the link below. In this greenhouse pot experiment with maize (Zea mays L.) grown in soils containing different arsenic levels, we could show that the soil microbiome as well as the presence of plants seems to play a role in the release of As from soils to soil solution. At higher arsenic levels, maize interacted with microbes to mitigate arsenic bioavailability.

02.08.2023

New Interdisciplinary paper: “Exhibiting toxicity: sprayed strawberries and geographies of hope”

In May 2022, Adrien, Nora Komposh from Cultural Geography and artist Lucy Sabin conducted a one month residency at the GIUB, funded by the mLAB, to explore exposures to pesticides and other contaminants through panel discussions, scientific talks and farm visits. They then wrote a scientific article, just published in Cultural Geographies, on the art exhibition that concluded this residency. The paper offers a reflection on the exhibition as an immersive site for figuratively re-sensing lived experiences of heavily polluted places. The exhibition provided space in which configurations of matter, affect and atmospherics might allow contemplation of environmental toxicity, while also being a means of voicing the care, solidarity and hope enacted by affected communities.

10.07.2023

Goodbye Coaláin

Coaláin McCreanor was an intern in the Soil Science group from March to June 2023. He was working on Swiss paddy fields looking at arsenic and other trace elements. In September 2023 he will be starting his PhD at Queen’s University Belfast. The Soil Science group wishes Coaláin all the best for his PhD and his future endeavours!

10.07.2023

Goodbye Teresa

Dr. Teresa González de Chávez started working in our group as a Postdoc in May 2019. She co-supervised two PhD-students, Dr. Hang Guan and Dr. Mohana Mukherjee, both part of the Interfaculty Research Cooperation One Health. From March 2020, she was Interim Head of the Chemistry Laboratory and Lecturer in Laboratory Methods and worked as research associate and lecturer. During this time, she was not only dedicated to providing interesting lectures for the students, but also maintained an overview of the demanding planning of the laboratory renovation and made it an enjoyable place to work in the laboratory thanks to her organised and structured manner. The Soil Science group wishes Teresa all the best in her future endeavours!

09.06.2023

Mercury in Terrestrial Environment: Final Project Meeting

The final meeting for the project "Mercury in the Terrestrial Environment", started in 2019 and financed by the Federal Office for the Environment, was held on Tuesday, June 6, 2023. Sabnam Mahat, the project's PhD student, and Prof. Dr. Adrien Mestrot, the project's PhD supervisor, coordinated the meeting. It was attended by collaborators from the Swiss Ornithological Institute together with advisory board members from the Federal Office for the Environment, including representatives from the Wildlife and Forest Biodiversity Section and the Industrial Chemicals Section, representative from the Federal Office for Food Safety and Veterinary Affairs, researchers from ETH Zürich, and students from the Institute of Geography, Soil Science unit at the University of Bern. The project’s findings and their implications for the future were presented by Sabnam and discussed with everyone. People on the picture from left to right: Michel Wildi (BAFU), Stefan Osterwalder (ETH), Sylvain Bouchet (ETH/METAS), Lorenz Gfeller (UniBern), Adrien Mestrot (UniBern), Andreas Buser (BAFU), Sabnam Mahat (UniBern), Beat Brueschweiler (BLV), Bettina Almasi (Vogelwarte), Michel Wildi (BAFU), missing Harold Bouchex-Bellomie (BAFU).

12.05.2023

Guest speaker 23.05.2023

Prof. Marco Keiluweit is Associate Professor of Soil Biogeochemistry at UNIL and is particularly interested in fundamental geochemical processes, biotically-mediated or not, that regulate carbon and nutrient cycles in soils. His research combines laboratory, greenhouse, and field experiments with advanced analytical tools such as synchrotron spectroscopy, chemical imaging, and molecular microbiology. In his talk, Prof. Keiluweit will show how extreme flooding and drought events alter controls and pathways of soil carbon loss within a mountainous floodplain system. He will report on an extensive monitoring campaign and associated biogeochemical measurements in a headwater catchment in the Rocky Mountains (Colorado, US) and examine differences across extremely low and high river discharge years, which foreshadow climate change predictions in such mountainous floodplains. For more information, please download the flyer.

04.05.2023

Congratulations Dr. Alexandra Foetisch!

On Thursday, 20.04.2023, Alex successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “Occurrence and fate of micro- and nanoplastic in the terrestrial environment”. In her dissertation, she demonstrated that transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) methods can be used to detect and characterise nanoplastics. She also studied the weathering process of plastics in soil by using STXM to characterise the surface chemical composition of polymers extracted from agricultural fields and road sided soils. Finally, she developed and optimised an extraction method for nanoplastics from soil, as well as a method for extracting and identifying tire wear particles from soil samples that requires only basic laboratory equipment. We wish Alex all the best in her future endeavours and will miss her dearly in the Soil Science group.

24.04.2023

UNEP Minamata Convention on Mercury

Adrien took part in the first face-to-face meeting of the Open Ended Scientific Group of the UNEP Minamata Convention on Mercury which took place in Geneva from March 27th to March 31st. The role of the OESG is to write a scientific report in which it will compile, analyse and synthesize comparable mercury monitoring data and changes in mercury concentrations in environmental media, biotic media and the human population, including vulnerable populations over time. The report will form the basis for the first Effectiveness Evaluation of the Minamata Convention.

15.03.2023

We are hiring!

We are looking for a motivated Postdoctoral researcher who would like to participate in the on-going project “Release, biomethylation and biovolatilisation of antimony in soils. Drivers, mechanisms, and global environmental implications.” If you would like to know more download the flyer. Application deadline May 15th 2023.

01.03.2023

Winter event to the Jungfraujoch

On 27th of February 2023, the Soil Science group had its winter group event. We went to the Jungfraujoch and visited the High Altitude Research Stations Jungfraujoch & Gornergrat (HFSJG). After a warm welcome in the library of the research station by Sonja Stöckli and Thomas Furer, and an introductory presentation by Prof. Silvio Decurtins, president of the HFSJG, we had a tour through the research station. After having lunch at the Restaurant Crystal with an amazing view, we visited the Sphinx and had a tour through the Sphinx laboratories by Prof. Markus Leuenberger, director of the station, and his team. We were very lucky with the weather and all of us enjoyed this amazing and interesting trip to the Jungfraujoch. Thank you very much Livia, Sabnam and Adrien who organised this unforgettable event!

01.03.2023

Céline defended her Master's thesis

Céline Witschi successfully defended her Master's thesis entitled "Antimony methylation in soils: method development and case study" on 15th December 2022. Congratulation Céline and all the best for your future endeavours!

01.03.2023

Goodbye Karen

Dr. Karen Viacava started working in our group as a Postdoc in April 2021. Together with Ursina, she worked on the release and speciation of antimony in soils upon flooding and in flooded soils, with a particular focus on the biomethylation and biovolatilisation of antimony. In her last experimental work, she investigated how microbial arsenite methyltransferase catalyses antimony methylation. She is now starting a permanent position in the private sector. The Soil Science group wishes Karen all the best in her future endeavours!

28.02.2023

Guest speaker 07.03.2023

Prof. Meret Aeppli is assistant professor and head of the soil biogeochemistry laboratory (SOIL) at EPFL. In her talk, Prof. Aeppli will present an approach to measure rates and extents of electron transfer to iron minerals and link the measured values to calculations of reaction thermodynamics in order to make findings generally applicable across environmental conditions. For more information, please download the flyer.

09.02.2023

The Soil Science Colloquium, Spring semester 2023 will start soon!

The Colloquium will take place on Tuesdays from February 21st to May 30th from 16h15 to 18h00. Interested people are welcome to attend in person in seminar room 208, Hochschulstrasse 4. For more details please download the flyer. Looking forward to meeting you there!

22.12.2022

Congratulations Dr. Caplette!

Last week Jaime successfully defended her PhD thesis entitled “The Development and Application of a Method to Measure Volatile Antimony Emissions from Soils and Antimony Release from Contaminated Soils”. Her interdisciplinary work included the development of analytical techniques as well as the field sampling of contaminated environments in Switzerland and abroad. Jaime obtained the highest grade in both, her thesis and her defense. We wish Jaime all the best in her future endeavours and she will be dearly missed in the Soil Science group.

28.11.2022

Alexandra won 2nd place for the Microplastics & Nanoplastics Oral Presentation Award

Alexandra won 2nd place for the Microplastics & Nanoplastics Oral Presentation Award at the Congressi Stefano Franscini, held at Monte Verità in Ascona, Switzerland, 6.-11. November 2022. Her presentation was entitled "High resolution investigation of plastic aging in soil using scanning transmission x-ray microscopy (STXM)". Congratulations Alex!

28.11.2022

Elusive Exposures Event Series

In May 2022, Adrien, Nora Komposh form Cultural Geography and artist Lucy Sabin conducted a one month residency at the GIUB. This research initiative explored exposures to pesticides and other contaminants through panel discussions, scientific talks and farm visits as well as an art exhibition. The mLab who funded this collaborative residency also produced a video about it that you can watch using the link below. The video was edited and filmed by Fabienne Frey for the mLab.

22.11.2022

Guest speaker 29.11.2022

Dr. Florian Breider, head of the Central Environmental Laboratory, Institute of Environmental Engineering, EPFL, is giving a talk in the Soil Science colloquium entitled "Occurrence, fate, environmental and human health impacts of plastic pollution". The talk will take place in Hallerstrasse 12, seminar room 002. For more information, please download the flyer.

11.11.2022

Guest speaker 15.11.2022

Dr. David Amouroux, head of the Environmental Chemistry and Microbiology Unit of the IPREM, is giving a talk in the Environmental Pollution Colloquium entitled "A molecular and isotopic journey in the biogeochemical cycle of mercury". The talk will take place in Hallerstrasse 12, seminar room 002. For more information, please download the flyer.

18.10.2022

Guest speaker 25.10.2022

Dr. Christina Kast, group leader from the Swiss Bee Research Centre from Agroscope is giving the first talk of the Environmental Pollution Colloquium entitled “Monitoring pesticides in Swiss beeswax – effects of pesticides in beeswax on honey bee health”. The talk will take place at 16h15 at Hallerstrasse 12 in seminar room 002.

05.10.2022

Guest speaker 18.10.2022

Prof. Karolina Lewińska from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland. In her presentation Prof. Lewińska will be talking about her work on antimony-polluted areas in Poland and the effect of soil additives on Sb mobilisation. For more information download the flyer.

27.09.2022

Congratulations Dr. Guan!

We congratulate Dr. Hang Guan for the successful completion of her Ph.D in Geography. Dr. Guan started her Ph.D in 2018 under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Moritz Bigalke (left) and Prof. Dr. Adrien Mestrot (right) within the One Health project in the Department of Soil Science. She wrote her thesis on “the role of soil indigenous microbes and their interactions with maize plants in arsenic uptake, translocation, speciation and detoxification in the soil-plant system”. She defended her thesis on 25th August 2022. We wish you the best in your future endeavours and are confident that you will continue to contribute addressing challenges regarding environmental pollution.

26.09.2022

Guest speaker 27.09.2022

Dr. Wendel Wohlleben is Senior Principal Scientist at BASF where he leads the research cluster on the impact assessment of nanomaterials, and another cluster on microplastics. His own labs develop and apply methods to understand the fate of microplastics. Dr. Wohlleban will talk about the impact of the imminent restrictions of microplastics, and of longer-term changes to regulation of polymers in general and the aging and fragmentation during composting of biodegradable polymers. For more information download the flyer.

26.09.2022

The Soil Science Colloquium, Fall semester 2022 has started!

Last week, the Soil Science Colloquium has started again. The Colloquium takes place every Tuesday until Dec 20th from 16h15 to 18h00. Interested people are welcome to attend in person in Hallerstrasse 12 seminar room 002. For more details please download the flyer. Looking forward to meeting you there!

09.09.2022

Antimony release and volatilization from rice paddy soils: Field and microcosm study

This is a laboratory- and field-based study on the controls of the release of antimony (Sb) and production of volatile Sb from rice-paddy soils. We present the first field-based quantitative measurements of volatile Sb emissions from soils and show that volatilization may be a potentially relevant, but neglected, part of the Sb biogeochemical cycle. In the laboratory-based experiments we show that Sb release in the porewaters of flooded rice paddies is sudden and relevant and may pose a risk at the beginning of the rice season. We detected higher Sb volatilisation rates in our incubations when the soils were manured, a typical agricultural practice. Based on this study, volatile Sb could account up to 13% of the anthropogenic Sb emissions to the atmosphere. The article is available open access under the link below.

23.06.2022

Minamata Convention on Mercury – expert from GIUB nominated

Adrien has been nominated by Switzerland to be a member of the Open Ended Scientific Group (OESG) of the Minamata Convention. This convention is a global treaty to protect human health and the environment from the adverse effects of mercury. The role of the OESG is to develop a scientific report in which it will compile, analyse and synthesize comparable mercury monitoring data on changes in mercury concentrations in environmental media, biotic media and the human population, including vulnerable populations over time. The report will also include the availability of scientific information on mercury levels in the environment and human populations, and the interactions between scientific data and financial assistance, technology transfer, and capacity building. Finally it will contain an evaluation of the impact on mercury levels in the environment and humans of the measures taken under the Minamata Convention on Mercury.

30.05.2022

Viktoria, Teresa and Adrien have published an article in STOTEN

Viktoria (visiting master student, 2020) Teresa and Adrien have just published an article in STOTEN. The article is about the effect of increasing temperatures and flooding on arsenic mobility in two Swiss soils. They could show that a temperature increase of 5 °C leads to a faster release of As from flooded soils, that methylated As species appeared earlier and at a higher concentrations with higher temperatures. Also, As biovolatilisation rates increased 4-folds at higher temperature in the more acidic soil and increased temperature enhanced the formation of thiolated arsenic species. The article is available open access under the link below.

29.04.2022

Guest speaker 03.05.2022

Prof. Teresa Fresno from the Autonomous University of Madrid will give a virtual guest talk at the Soil Science colloquium next week on the topic “Phytostabilization strategies to ameliorate arsenic toxicity in soils” where she will talk about the addition of iron and organic amendments for the remediation or arsenic in soils. For more information download the flyer.

28.04.2022

Elusive Exposures Event Series

Adrien is co-organizing a mLab-residency together with Nora Komposh and Lucy Sabin on the topic of how to make toxicity visible and how to communicate experiences of exposure, which starts next week. During May there will be several public events (creative mapping, excursions, symposia, and an art exhibition) in which all GIUB staff and students are very welcome to participate. For more information, please follow the link below.

21.04.2022

Guest speaker 26.04.2022

Dr. Klaus Schläppi is Professor at the University of Basel in the Environmental Sciences Department and Group leader at the University of Bern in the Institute of Plant Science. His main interest is the interaction of plants with their microbiome. His group investigate the fundamental questions of how plants take influence on their root and rhizosphere microbiome and how these microbes contribute to plant growth and disease protection. In his talk, he will provide an overview of opportunities of agroecosystem management and illustrate them with practical examples of mostly own plant microbiome research.

21.04.2022

Welcome Hannah Forsyth!

Hannah Forsyth has just started her PhD in the group as part of the Horizon 2020-funded MINAGRIS project which aims to asses the impact of (micro- and nano-) plastic contamination of agricultural soils, as well as the plastic concentrations, degradation, and transport in the environment. Her contribution to the project will involve the development of an extraction method for nanoplastics in soil to analyse the concentrations of nanoplastics in agricultural soil, the study of nanoplastics uptake by plants, and the release of nanoplastics into the soil due to the ageing of microplastics.

29.03.2022

Karen’s manuscript has been released in The ISME Journal

Karen’s manuscript has been released in The ISME Journal! It is the first study to use three meta-omics techniques to target the isolation of an elusive arsenic-methylating soil bacterium. Besides paving the way to obtain novel targeted microbial isolates from the environment, the work will allow further investigation into the triggers of arsenic methylation in flooded soils which is key to prevent the accumulation of arsenic in rice, one of the main sources of human exposure to arsenic as more than half of the world’s population consumes rice as its staple food.

24.03.2022

Guest speaker 29.03.2022

Prof. Dr. Michael S. Bank works as a Senior Scientist in the Department of Contaminants and Biohazards at the IMR, Bergen. Michael also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Contaminants and Complex Systems at University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA in the USA. His research is highly interdisciplinary and has its theoretical basis in complex systems analyses, Bayesian mathematical modeling, contaminant biology, environmental toxicology, and environmental governance. Specifically, his interests are focused on three principal themes (a) How do contaminants affect organisms, including humans, (b) How can contaminants in ecosystem compartments be modeled using isotopic niches, Bayesian statistics and information theory, and (c) How can this information be used in a scientific translation and environmental governance context. For more information about the talk download the flyer.

16.03.2022

Guest speaker 22.03.2022

Steven Doherty is in the final stages of submitting a PhD through the University of New England on the geochemistry of Sb and As in co-contaminated freshwater environments. Steven currently holds a joint position between UNE and the Legacy Mines Program undertaking preliminary assessments of historic mine sites, having previously completed numerous investigations and research projects on mine contaminated soils. He will be presenting his studies in our colloquium. Please note, that this colloquium session will be held online only and exeptionally from 09:00 to 10:45 am. For more information about the talk download the flyer.

01.03.2022

Interim lab manager and lecturer

Dr Teresa Chavez-Capilla, former postdoctoral researcher in the Soil Science Unit, will be the interim lab manager and lecturer replacing Prof Moritz Bigalke until December. She will teach the BSc and MSc units in Laboratory Methods in Physical Geography as well as manage the cLab at the GIUB.

01.03.2022

Good bye Moritz

Dr Moritz Bigalke has been appointed a full professor at the Institute of Applied Geosciences at TU Darmstadt in Germany. His research will continue to focus on the biogeochemistry of metals, micro- and nanoplastics in soils. The Soil Science group wishes Mortiz all the best in his future!

01.03.2022

Guest speaker 08.03.2022

Sebastian Dötterl works at ETH Zurich as an Assistant Professor for Soil Resources and as an expert on the effects of soil erosion on C cycling in agricultural landscapes. He is co-founder of the Congo Biogeochemistry Observatory (CBO), a non-profit consortium of researchers who study biogeochemical cycles and atmosphere-plant-soil interactions in tropical Africa with a focus on studying the rapid environmental changes to the African Tropics. In his talk he will illustrate with a few examples how the gaps in our understanding of soil processes across climate zones and dismissing lateral soil fluxes leads to large uncertainties in predicting future trajectories of the global carbon cycle. For more information about the talk, date and place download the flyer.

25.02.2022

Welcome René Nussbaumer

René Nussbaumer is joining the Soil Science group as laboratory assitant. Welcome to our group René!

22.02.2022

The Soil Science Colloquium, Spring semester 2022 is starting!

Today the SS Colloquium is starting again. The Colloquium will take place every Tuesday from Feb 22nd to Mai 31st from 16h15 to 18h00. It will be held as a hybrid event where people can attend in person or virtually. For more details please download the flyer. Looking forward to meeting you there!

17.02.2022

Talk by Adjunct Prof. Dr. Julien Gigault

Dr. Julien Gigault is adjunct professor at the ULaval and scientific researcher at the University of Rennes, Geoscience department. His research focuses on the toxicity and environmental impact of micro- and nanoplastics, especially in aquatic environments. For more information about the talk, date and place download the flyer.

18.01.2022

Review on the Need to Unravel Arsenolipid Transformations in Humans

Dr Teresa Chavez-Capilla, postdoc in the Soil Science Unit, got recently a short review published on the importance of researching arsenolipids. Have a look in the link below:

10.12.2021

Welcome to Natacha Van Groeningen

Natacha Van Groeningen completed her Master in chemistry at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel where she studied chemicals leaching from plastic and their effect on the endocrine system. After which she did a Ph.D. in the soil science group at ETH Zurich, where her research focused on iron, manganese and trace metal sorption onto clay minerals in redox dynamic environments. After obtaining her doctoral degree, she joined the Biocide and Plant Protection Products group of the Federal Office for the Environment, where she contributed to the environmental risk assessment for biocidal products within REACH. Natacha will join the Soil Science group as part of the SPRINT (Sustainable Plant Protection Transition) and MINAGRIS (Micro- and Nano-Plastics in Agricultural Soils) projects from the EU’s Horizon 2020 strategy. With her research and commitment, she aspire to contribute to the protection of the environment, a sustainable future and promote a socially just environment.

09.12.2021

Interview with Dr Teresa Chavez-Capilla about arsenic in seaweed

Dr Teresa Chavez-Capilla got interviewed by the team of the Sargassum podcast where she talked about arsenic in seaweed and the differences between inorganic and organic arsenic. You can listen to it here:

30.11.2021

Talk by Prof. Angelia L. Seyfferth on Dec 7th

The Associate Professor at University of Delaware Department of Soil Biogeochemistry will be giving a talk entitled “Limiting As in rice through water and Si management”. The talk will take place as part of the Soil Science Colloquium. Professor Seyfferth’s research is borderline between soil, plant, ecosystem, chemical and biological sciences, along with engineering to understand the biogeochemical cycles of different elements and their impact on society. For more information about the talk, date and place download the flyer.

16.11.2021

Talk by Dr Kerstin Hockmann on November 23rd

University of Bayreuth’s researcher Dr Kerstin Hockmann is giving a talk entitled “When the good meets the evil: Impact of iron on antimony mobility in redox-dynamic soils”. She forms part of the university’s program “Outstanding Female Scholars” funded by the Female Professors Program of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. Her research has allow to have a better understanding of antimony geochemistry under reduced environments which is central to managing risks arising from antimony-impacted sites. For more information, please download the flyer.

16.11.2021

Talk by Dr Laurie Savage on November 16th

The research associate at University of Glasgow, Dr. Laurie Savage will be giving a talk today entitled “Arsenic inputs to terrestrial ecosystems through precipitation.” Laurie is an environmental and analytical chemist with a focus on mass spectrometry techniques including GC-MS, ICP-MS and the coupling of liquid chromatography to ICP-MS. His giving this talk as guest speaker of the Soil Science Colloquium Fall semester 2021. For more information, please download the flyer.

16.11.2021

SNSF R’equip grant to acquire a state-of-the-art HPLC-ICP-QQQ-MS system

Adrien, Moritz and Prof. Siegfried Hapfelmeier (Institute of Infectious Disease, MEDFAK) obtained a SNSF R’equip grant (dedicated to purchase scientific equipment of enduring value) to acquire a state-of-the-art HPLC-ICP-QQQ-MS system. The name of the grant was “New trace element speciation infrastructure to advance the research on environmentally relevant trace elements across disciplines" with reference number 206021_205389.

16.11.2021

Soil chemistry determines whether defensive plant secondary metabolites promote or suppress herbivore growth

Adrien contributed to a study just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS). The work stems from the One health IRC collaboration between the Soil Science group and the groups of Biotic Interactions of Prof. Matthias Erb and the group of Chemical Ecology, both at the Institute of Plant Sciences. This study demonstrates that the protective effects of multifunctional maize secondary metabolites against a major pest are dependent on soil chemical composition. By functioning as both digestibility reducers and siderophores, benzoxazinoids link soil chemistry to plant–environment interactions.

04.11.2021

Welcome to Adrian Grunder!

Adrian Grunder has just started his PhD at the Soil Science group as part of the MINAGRIS (Micro- and Nano-Plastics in Agricultural Soils) project from the EU’s Horizon 2020 strategy. His contribution will involve the method standardisation for micro-plastic measurement and analysis, and the analysis of micro-plastic mobility within soils and its effects on soil chemistry.

02.11.2021

Online talk by Dr. Peter Weiss-Penzias on November 9th

The faculty researcher from the University of California, Santa Cruz, Dr. Peter Weiss-Penzias will be giving a talk next week entitled “The connection between atmospheric deposition of mercury and uptake to the terrestrial food web in coastal and mine impacted areas.” Dr. Weiss-Penzias’ research focused on the environmental chemistry of mercury with a focus the characterization and quantification of the sources of atmospheric mercury using sensors and bioindicators. The talk forms part of the Soil Science Colloquium Fall semester 2021. For more information, please download the flyer.

02.11.2021

Soil sampling in the old shooting range lake Burgseeli

PhD candidate Ursina Morgenthaler and Postdoc Dr. Karen Viacava conducted their first sampling campaign for the SNSF-founded project “Release, biomethylation and biovolatilisation of antimony in soils: Drivers, mechanisms and global environmental implications.” Shooting ranges in Switzerland are an example of sites with high concentrations of toxic trace metals due to the accumulated ammunition in the backstops and surrounding areas. To study the mobilization of such metals is key for the remediation of the soils.

02.11.2021

Soil sampling in the Habkern shooting range

As part of the BRIDGE Proof of Concept project from Dr. Eric Pinto, members of the Soil Science team conducted a soil sampling in the active 300m shooting range of Habkern.

04.10.2021

One Health summer school: “hidden players in the food chain”

The Interfaculty Research Cooperation (IRC) One Health ran its summer school for Bachelor and Master students for the second time. How could the healthy, young daughter of a family of farmers from the Camargue suddenly fall ill with cancer? This was the question that the 18 participants from 15 different countries investigated by exploring the interconnections between environmental, human and animal health.

30.09.2021

Andrea and Tobi defended their Master's theses

Andrea Weber and Tobias Stalder successfully defended their Master's theses on 16 September. Andrea worked on the "Release of Arsenic from Soils upon Organic and Inorganic Phosphorus Addition" while Tobias' thesis dealt with the "Optimisation of Microplastic Extraction from Soil". Congratulations to both of you and all the best for your future endeavours!

28.09.2021

Restoration of Soil profiles in Engehalbinsel

Last Friday September 24th, the Soil Science group went to the field and restored the six soil profiles in Engehalbinsel. These profiles are representatives of Swiss soils and are used by different educational institutions to teach the formation of soils. The profiles are also available at all time to the general public who can see them while hiking in the Engehalbinsel.

22.09.2021

Talk by Prof. Denise M. Mitrano on Sept 28th

The Assistant Professor at ETH Zurich in the Environmental Systems Science Department will be giving a talk entitled “Small(er) plastics, big(ger) problems? Fate, transport and impacts of nano- and microplastics in the environment”. The talk will take place as part of the Soil Science Colloquium. Professor Mitrano’s research focuses on the distribution and impacts of anthropogenic materials in technical and environmental systems. For more information about the talk, date and place download the flyer.

22.09.2021

The Soil Science Colloquium, Fall semester 2021 has started!

This week the SS Colloquium has started. The Colloquium will take place every Tuesday from Sept 21st to Dec 21st from 16h15 to 18h00. It will be held as a hybrid event where people can attend it in person or virtually. For more details please download the flyer. Looking forward to meeting you there!

22.09.2021

Sampling in the Beni, Bolivia

Caroline de Meyer is currently sampling groundwater from wells in the Bolivian Amazon, together with Mauricio Ormachea and his team from the Higher University of San Andres (Universidad Mayor de San Andrés). The joined field campaign is part of the pilot study funded by the Leading House for the Latin American Region. The aim is to assess arsenic contaminated groundwater in the Beni region. The local collaborators got support from the Autonomous University of Beni (Universidad Autónoma del Beni), who recently published an interview about the collaboration which can be seen in their official social media.

06.09.2021

Welcome to Eric Pinto!

Eric Alejandro Pinto-Figueroa is an Engineer in Biotechnology (University of Chile, Chile) and a Doctor in Microbial Ecology (University of Lausanne, Switzerland). Passionate about innovations that make sense for the planet and people, Eric will join the Soil Science group as a BRIDGE-program fellow exploring novel bio-based methods for soil health assessment.

17.08.2021

Successful Virtual One Health International Summer School 2021!

Last week our first Virtual One Health International PhD and Postdoc Summer School 2021 took place with 31 participants from 15 different countries - China, Croatia, Germany, Greece, India, Italy, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Spain, Switzerland and the UK. We would like to warmly thank all the participants and speakers for their excellent input. Until next time!

17.08.2021

Jaime's paper has been published

Jaime's paper "Validation and deployment of a quantitative trapping method to measure volatile antimony emissions" has been published in Environmental Pollution. The paper can be accessed through the link below. Congratulations Jaime!

12.07.2021

Dr. Abdallah Alaoui is back to the GIUB!

Dr. Alaoui was a member of the GIUB for 20 years until 2014. Here he completed his PhD in Soil Physics under the supervision of Prof. Peter German and his Habilitation thesis in the group of Hydrology on the topic of “Hydrological Flow Processes: From Micropore to Catchment”. During the last six years Dr. Alaoui has participated in two Horizon 2020 (H2020) projects from the European Commission: iSQAOER & SoilCare. Now he returns to the GIUB with two more H2020 projects: SPRINT (pesticides in the environment) and Minagris (Microplastics in soil), the latter in collaboration with GIUB Laboratory Head Dr. Moritz Bigalke. In addition, Dr. Alaoui will be leading a work package entitled “Harmonization of monitoring and methodologies across Europe” (2021-2026) and teaching the Soil Physics course of the Soil Science Unit.

06.07.2021

New book chapter

Jaime and Adrien contributed a book chapter “Biomethylation and biovolatilization of antimony” in the brand-new book Antimony. The full text can be accessed through the link below. Congratulations Jaime!

10.06.21

Lorenz’s paper published

Lorenz’s paper “Mercury mobility, colloid formation and methylation in a polluted Fluvisol as affected by manure application and flooding–draining cycle” has been published in Biogeosciences. The paper can be accessed through the link below. The picture has been taken on a busy sampling day in the Lab. Congratulations Lorenz!

02.06.2021

Sampling campaign in the Valais

Tree rings might serve as a good proxy for past gaseous mercury (Hg) concentrations in the atmophere. Luzia Klopfenstein investigates the influence of Hg point sources on Hg concentrations in treeings. This May she completed a successful sampling campaign with Paula Ballikaya (WSL) and Lorenz Gfeller (Soil Science GIUB) in the canotn of Valais.

12.04.2021

Welcome back Karen!

Karen Viacava completed her Engineer’s degree in Biochemical Engineering at the Morelia Institute of Technology, Mexico. She continued her studies at the TU Dresden where she obtained a MSc degree in Molecular Bioengineering. She recently obtained her doctoral degree at the Environmental Microbiology Laboratory (EML) at EPFL where her research focused on the methylation of arsenic by soil microorganisms. As a Postdoc, Karen is going to work together with Ursina on the release and speciation of antimony in soils upon flooding and in flooded soils, with a special focus on the biomethylation and biovolatilisation of antimony.

25.03.2021

Group Hike to Frienisberg

On the 25th of March 2021 a group hike was organized by Adrien to Frienisberg, one of the highest hills around Bern. A highlight was the observation tower (Chutzentrum) at 858 m.a.s.l. that offered a 360-degree view of the Alps and the Jura mountains. Another one were the Lobsigen caves (Höhlen Lobsingen) which were impressive caves carved into sandstones and were historically inhabited until the beginning of 20th century. The visit to these caves turned the hike into a geological excursion and initiated interesting discussions about soil and trace metals. The hike was about 10-12 km and ended at Radelfingen.

17.03.2021

Animal experimentation permission granted

Sabnam’s animal experimentation permission has been granted. Congratulations! Sabnam has been successfully trained for wild animals and bird handling. She can now proceed with her barn owl sampling this Summer to study the biomagnification of mercury in the terrestrial food chain. The project will run for 2.5 years starting this March and is a collaboration with the Vogelwarte.

02.03.2021

Congratulations Ursina

Ursina Morgenthaler is going to start her PhD in our group soon. She is a physical geographer interested in the environmental fate of pollutants and organic matter and nutrient cycling of the plant-soil system. After her graduation, she worked at the Competence Center Soil at Armasuisse, where she dealt with the investigation, remediation of contaminated sites and with the general management of military-derived pollutants. In her PhD she is going to investigate the release and speciation of antimony in soils upon flooding and in flooded soils, with a special focus on the biomethylation and biovolatilisation of antimony. The studied soils will be originating from Swiss shooting ranges, Chinese rice paddies of Xinkuangshan and a mine impacted floodplain in Australia.

26.02.2021

Welcome Liv

Liv Klemm is going to write her master thesis with the soil science group. Her aim is to create an online teaching tool to bring soil science topics to a broader audience.

02.02.2021

Lorenz's Paper in Interactive Public Peer Review

Lorenz submitted his most recent manuscript “Mercury mobility, colloid formation and methylation in a polluted fluvisol as affected by manure application and flooding-draining cycle.” as a preprint to Biogeosciences. In this interactive journal, the process of peer review and publication differs from traditional scientific journals. It is a two-stage process involving the scientific discussion forum Biogeosciences Discussions (BGD), and it utilizes the full potential of the internet to foster scientific discussion and enable rapid publication of scientific papers. So we would like to invite you to join the discussion and post your short comments until 15 March following the link below. Do not hesitate to share this link.

10.12.2020

Jaime obtained funding for 500WS

Jaime got a promotion fund grant from the University of Bern to fund the networking and science outreach events from 500 Women Scientists Bern-Fribourg. We are looking forward to further interesting events next year!

05.12.2020

Zooming into soil aggregates

Klaus was recently participating in an experiment to analyse soil aggregates of Amazonian Dark Earth at the European Synchrotron (ESRF). He is very much interested on how changes in environmental conditions changes the availability of nutrients in soil. In this project he was looking together with colleagues from Germany and France into the co-location of carbon with other nutrients in soil. Read more about this exciting project and hear how it feels doing an experiment remotely from your bed-side.

02.11.2020.

Karen’s paper on arsenic methylation just got accepted

Karen’s paper on arsenic methylation just got accepted in ES&T! Congrats Karen! This new and exciting study presents a systematic investigation of active As methylation by pure cultures of seven arsM-harboring microbial species with varying metabolism and phylogeny that were selected to represent some of the diversity of soil microbes. Her results led to the following conclusions: (i) encoding a functional ArsM enzyme does not guarantee that a microorganism will actively drive As methylation in the presence of the metalloid and (ii) there is an inverse relationship between efficient microbial As efflux and its methylation, because the former prevents the intracellular accumulation of As.

31.10.2020

Adrien obtained a grant from the SNSF

Adrien obtained a grant from the SNSF to study the release, biomethylation and biovolatilisation of antimony in soils. This new project will focus on polluted soils from Switzerland, China and Australia. A postdoc and a PhD will be hired to conduct the work which combines lab and field experiment with advance analytical techniques such as SEC-ICP-MS, AF4-ICP-MS and HPLC-ESI-QQQ-MS. The expected start is in early 2021.

31.10.2020

New publication on the effect of organic matter amendments on the mobility and methylation of arsenic in Bangladeshi rice paddies

Adrien just co-authored a publication on the effect of organic matter amendments on the mobility and methylation of arsenic in Bangladeshi rice paddies. This work was done in Bangladesh and Aberdeen UK, during his PhD in 2009/2010 with his colleague Mahmud Hossain who first authored the publication. The title is “Arsenic dynamics in paddy soil under traditional manuring practices in Bangladesh”.

19.10.20

Talk about The Ethics of Environmental Justice by Prof Ivo Wallimann-Helmer

Prof Ivo Wallimann-Helmer from the Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg gives a talk about the ethics of environmental justice within the cluster environmental pollution seminar series. This talk takes place at the GIUB, Hallerstrasse 12, in seminar room 001 at 4.00 pm – 5.15 pm on the 19.10.2020.

16.10.2020

Adrien and Caroline de Meyer obtained a Seed Money Grant

Adrien and Caroline de Meyer obtained a Seed Money Grant from the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation to characterise the occurrence of arsenic in ground water in the Bolivian Amazon. This project, called “Assessing geogenic arsenic and other potentially toxic trace elements in groundwater resources of the Bolivian Amazon” is a collaboration between our group and colleagues from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz – Bolivia.

15.10.2020

Christa defended her Master thesis

Christa has successfully defended her Master thesis! Congrats Christa! Christa’s thesis was a joint project between SL-SLM and our group. The title of her Master thesis is: “Do effective microorganisms (EM) affect the decomposition of organic matter? Results from a soil incubation experiment”.

10.09.2020

Gaby and Milo defended their Master thesis

Milo and Gaby have both successfully defended their Master thesis! Congrats Gaby and Milo! Milo and Gaby worked both on Microplastics. The title of Gaby’s Master thesis is: “Microplastics in Swiss agricultural soils – Detection of microplastics using a combined method considering different agricultural land applications”. The title of Milo’s Master thesis is: „Mikroplastik im Drainagewasser: Identifikation und Quantifikation von Mikrokunststoffen im Wasser von landwirtschaftlich drainierten Böden“.

18.06.2020

Teresa obtained two grants!

Teresa obtained two grants in June! Congrats Teresa!! One is a grant from the University Research Foundation to go and visit Prof. Feldman’s laboratory in Graz (AT) and learn more about extraction and high-resolution analysis of arsenolipids from world leading experts in the field. The second one is a Seal of Excellence Fund (SELF) which is an internal grant of the University of Bern to employ excellent international researchers at postdoctoral level whose MSCA IF applications with the University of Bern were (just) not funded but were awarded the “Seal of Excellence”. The award is worth approx..50 kCHF to pay Teresa’s postdoc salary (50% for a year).

29.05.2020

Karen defended her PhD

Karen has successfully defended her PhD! Congrats Karen!! Her PhD was jointly supervised by Prof. Bernier-Latmani from the Environmental Microbiology Lab at EPFL, and Adrien. Karen worked in both EPFL and the GIUB. The title of her thesis was: “Methylation of arsenic by single-species and soil-derived microbial cultures”.

07.04.2020

Soil Science in the home office

The soil science group also had to go to the home office during these extraordinary times due to Corona. The research is now being continued from the home office by means of digital meetings, video conferences and online colloquium.

26.02.2020

Talk about the effect of organic matter on trace elements (TE) cycle (Dr. Julie Tolu, EAWAG) (Tuesday, 03.03.2020)

Investigating the effect of organic matter on trace elements (TE) cycle: role of OM molecular composition and quantification of organic TE in environmental samples (03.03.2020, 4.15 pm - 6.00 pm, Seminar room 228, Mittelstrasse 43)

07.01.2020

500 Women Scientists in the Pub - 11. February 2020

To celebrate the International Day of Women in Science, Teresa Chávez-Capilla and Jaime Caplette, both part of the Bernese pod of 500 Women Scientists, are organising a casual evening dedicated to women in science. Two talks await the audience and present current research topics in a simple and understandable way. In between there will be games and free snacks. The event starts at 18:30 at ONO Bern, Kramgasse 6. Entry is free, a donation is very welcome.

08.11.2019

Sampling of roe deer

Since 2017, the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) regulates mercury pollution in Switzerland in accordance with the Minamata Convention on Mercury. Our group received funding from the FOEN in order to study the fate of mercury in the terrestrial ecosystem and monitor its decline. The first part of the study consists of setting up a monitoring procedure for mercury and methylmercury concentrations in the organs of roe deer, which is an ideal bioindicator. Sabnam Mahat, the PhD student working on the project, and Lucija Stanisic, scientific assistant, accompanied various groups of hunters for one day during the hunting season and collected fresh samples of muscles, liver, and kidneys after the hunt.

25.10.2019

Publication

Adrien Mestrot and Lorenz Gfeller's article on mercury mobility and methylmercury formation in contaminated floodplain soils was selected for the Emerging Investigator Series of the journal Environmental Science: Processes and Impacts. Click here for more information:

17.10.2019

New Master Students

Andrea Weber, Tobias Stalder, Yannick von Känel and Christa Herrmann write their master thesis in the Soil Science group - rock it!

04.09.2019

Sampling in Liesberg BL

The soil around Liesberg shows high concentrations of geogenic arsenic. Adrien Mestrot and Lucija Stanisic have taken soil samples and maize plant samples from Liesberg BL. The analysis of the maize plants should show whether and in which parts of the plants arsenic can be accumulated.

30.08.2019

Annual Conference 2019 of the German Soil Science Society and the Soil Science Society of Switzerland

From 24 to 29 August 2019, the joint conference of the German and Swiss Soil Science Societies took place. The Soil Science Group attended the conference.

24.08.2019

Goldschmidt 2019 in Barcelona

Some members of the research group participated in this year's Goldschmidt Conference. Jaime Caplette, Lorenz Gfeller, Adrien Mestrot and Moritz Bigalke presented their research.

22.02.2019

Group Activity: Cross Country Skiing in Prés-d'Orvin

04.01.2019

New Soil Science Group since January 1, 2019!

On the 1st of January 2019 the new Soil Science Research Group started. It unites the former group for general soil science and the group for speciation of trace elements and is headed by Prof. Dr. Adrien Mestrot.

06.12.2018

Article in the Swiss Research Magazine horizons