(top-left) PhD student Álvaro Gaytan is coordinating a European scale sampling project to understand how the flushing of new oak leaves during the growing season affects the microbes and insects that live on oak (top-right) PhD student Laura van Dijk investigates the impact of fungal diseases on pollination of Anemone nemorosa (bottom-left) Maria Faticov prepared libraries to sequence the microbial community associated with oaks leaves and roots, as well as the microbes associated with the oak’s leaf miners and gallers (bottom-right) PhD student Biruk Nurihun interviews a smallholder farmer about coffee fungal diseases, perceived changes in climate, and possibilities to adapt to climate change, with many curious onlookers

Other major events:

• We were sad that postdoc Ahmed Abdelfattah left our lab…With good reasons though, as he had the opportunity to start an exciting Marie-Curie project in Graz!
• Hannah Burger successfully defended her MSc thesis on the joint effect of top-down, bottom-up and environmental drivers on pest control on Arabica coffee in its native range
• PhD student Adam Ekholm defended his PhD thesis on seasonal interactions between oaks and insects
• PhD student Maria Faticov published her first paper on how climate and host genotype jointly shape tree phenology, disease levels and insect attacks (PDF)
  
• We received funding from SIDA/VR to continue our interdisciplinary work in Ethiopia for several more years, in collaboration with Esayas Mendesil at Jimma University, Sileshi Nemomissa at Addis Ababa University, Erik Kjellström at SMHI, Lowe Börjeson from the department of Human Geography at Stockholm University, and Kristoffer Hylander at DEEP (Stockholm University).