Davide Francioli- Professor
- Professor at Geisenheim University
Davide Francioli
- Professor
- Professor at Geisenheim University
About
39
Publications
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Introduction
Current institution
Additional affiliations
March 2020 - February 2022
March 2022 - April 2023
May 2017 - February 2020
Publications
Publications (39)
Soil is considered as one of the most biodiverse environments on Earth; yet, the taxonomy, occurrence, and role of its different microbial populations are largely unknown. Here, two sterilized soils (from England and Italy) were inoculated with a subsample of their initial microbial communities and/or those from the other soil to study their microb...
Societal Impact Statement
Grape production relies signifcantly on agrochemicals, such as fertilizers and pesticides, to sustain vine health and yield. However, excessive or improper use of these inputs leads to detrimental environmental effects, including soil degradation, water contamination, and biodiversity decline. To address this, research mus...
Despite the essential role of nitrogen fertilizers in achieving high crop yields, current application practices often exhibit low efficiency. Optimizing nitrogen (N) fertilization in agriculture is, therefore, critical for enhancing crop productivity while ensuring sustainable food production. This study investigates the effects of nitrification in...
Background
Field inoculation of crops with beneficial microbes is a promising sustainable strategy to enhance plant fitness and nutrient acquisition. However, effectiveness can vary due to environmental factors, microbial competition, and methodological challenges, while their precise modes of action remain uncertain. This underscores the need for...
In IUFRO experimental plots of 1969–1970, two 'Italian' provenances, I11 and I15, of unknown genetic origins, have consistently exhibited remarkable performance and stability over time and space in previous studies. It was deemed essential to acquire knowledge about the genetic origin area and conduct a genetic characterization of these two Italian...
ANNEX 1. DNA Extraction Protocol for woody MICROCORE (Kit Invisorb modified)
Increasing water demand from agricultural practices and environmental pollution caused by the intensive use of agrochemicals are among the most pressing issues concerning agriculture sustainability. The use of amorphous silica (ASi) as soil amendment can represent a valid alternative measure to cope with the upcoming challenges of intensifying drou...
Extreme weather conditions lead to significant imbalances in crop productivity, which in turn affect food security. Flooding events cause serious problems to many crop species such as wheat. Although metabolic readjustments under flooding are important for plant regeneration, underlying processes remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the...
Extreme weather conditions lead to significant imbalances in crop productivity, which in turn affect food security. Flooding events cause serious problems for many crop species such as wheat. Although metabolic readjustments under flooding are important for plant regeneration, underlying processes remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the...
The beneficial effect of microbial consortium application on plants is strongly affected by soil conditions, which are influenced by farming practices. The establishment of microbial inoculants in the rhizosphere is a prerequisite for successful plant-microorganism interactions. This study investigated whether a consortium of beneficial microorgani...
Root-associated fungi could play a role in determining both the positive relationship between plant diversity and productivity in experimental grasslands, and its strengthening over time. This hypothesis assumes that specialized pathogenic and mutualistic fungal communities gradually assemble over time, enhancing plant growth more in species-rich t...
Conventional chemical crop protection with pesticides is increasingly seen as being critical, because of pesticide residues in food and the environment. Integrated alternative management strategies such as crop rotations and soil management might also involve the targeted use of certain mineral fertilizers with benefits for plant health. A key elem...
Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for plant growth and development, as well as an important factor limiting sustainable maize production. Targeted nitrogen (N) fertilization in the form of ammonium has been shown to positively affect Pi uptake under P-deficient conditions compared to nitrate. Nevertheless, its profound effects on root traits,...
Rainfall extremes are intensifying as a result of climate change, leading to increased flood risk. Flooding affects above- and belowground ecosystem processes, representing a substantial threat to crop productivity under climate change. Plant-associated fungi play important roles in plant performance, but their response to abnormal rain events is u...
Plant diversity can reduce the risk of plant disease, but positive, and neutral effects have also been reported. These contrasting relationships suggest that plant community composition, rather than diversity per se, affects disease risk. Here, we investigated how the diversity and composition of plant communities drive root‐associated pathogen acc...
Nitrogen (N) fertilization is indispensable for high yields in agriculture due to its central role in plant growth and fitness. Different N forms affect plant defense against foliar pathogens and may alter soil–plant-microbe interactions. To date, however, the complex relationships between N forms and host defense are poorly understood. For this pu...
Extreme weather conditions lead to significant imbalances in crop productivity, which in turn affect food security. Flooding events cause serious problems to many crop species such as wheat. Although metabolic readjustments under flooding are important for plant regeneration, underlying processes remain poorly understood. Here, we investigated the...
Leaf microbiota mediates foliar functional traits, influences plant fitness, and contributes to various ecosystem functions, including nutrient and water cycling. Plant phenology and harsh environmental conditions have been described as the main determinants of leaf microbiota assembly. How climate change may modulate the leaf microbiota is unresol...
Flooding affects both above- and below-ground ecosystem processes, and it represents a substantial threat for crop and cereal productivity under climate change. Plant-associated microbiota play a crucial role in plant growth and fitness, but we still have a limited understanding of the response of the crop-microbiota complex under extreme weather e...
Background: The native crop bacterial microbiota of the rhizosphere is envisioned to be engineered for sustainable agriculture. This requires the identifcation of keystone rhizosphere Bacteria and an understanding on how these govern crop-specifc microbiome assembly from soils. We identifed the metabolically active bacterial microbiota (SSU RNA) in...
Background: The native crop bacterial microbiota of the rhizosphere is envisioned to be engineered for sustainable agriculture. This requires the identification of keystone rhizosphere Bacteria and an understanding on how these govern crop-specific microbiome assembly from soils. We identified the metabolically active bacterial microbiota (SSU RNA)...
AimsSaprophytic fungi are important agents of soil mineralization and carbon cycling. Their community structure is known to be affected by soil conditions such as organic matter and pH. However, the effect of plant species, whose roots provide the litter input into the soil, on the saprophytic fungal community is largely unknown.Methods
We examined...
Soil-borne microbes are major ecological players in terrestrial environments since they cycle organic matter, channel nutrients across trophic levels and influence plant growth and health. Therefore, the identification, taxonomic characterization and determination of the ecological role of members of soil microbial communities have become major top...
Soil-borne fungi are considered important drivers of plant community structure, diversity and ecosystem process in terrestrial ecosystems. Yet, our understanding of their identity and belowground association with different plant species in natural ecosystems such as grasslands is limited.
We identified the soil-borne fungal communities in the roots...
From the establishment of the first biodiversity experiments in the 1990s, studies have consistently reported positive relationships between plant diversity and productivity in grasslands. However, the predominant hypotheses that may explain this pattern have changed. Initially, there was a strong focus on plant–plant interactions such as facilitat...
Fungi are the principal wood decomposers in forest ecosystems and their activity provides wood necromass to other living organisms. However, the wood decay mechanisms and the associated microbial community are largely unknown, especially in Alpine areas. In this study, the culturable fraction of fungal communities associated with the decomposition...
Agroecosystems have been excessively exploited to meet the rising demand for food and other agricultural products. To maintain fertility of agricultural soils and to prevent losses of agroecosystem services, the application of organic and mineral fertilizers has become a common approach. However, nutrient inputs also influence the soil microbiome,...
Soil microorganisms regulate element cycling and plant nutrition, mediate co-existence of neighbors, and stabilize plant communities. Many of these effects are dependent upon environmental conditions and, in particular, on nutrient quality and availability in soils. In this context, we set up a pot experiment in order to examine the combined effect...
Soils harbor a huge diversity of microorganisms that participate in various biogeochemical cycles and influence soil fertility. Our knowledge of soil microbiota, however, is limited by the complexity and heterogeneity of soil habitats and the huge microbial diversity. In this study, fertilized and unfertilized soils from a long-term fertilization e...
Soil management is fundamental to all agricultural systems and fertilization practices have contributed substantially to the impressive increases in food production. Despite the pivotal role of soil microorganisms in agro-ecosystems, we still have a limited understanding of the complex response of the soil microbiota to organic and mineral fertiliz...
Due to their sensitivity to changing environmental conditions sub- and alpine soils are often monitored in the context of climate change, usually, however, neglecting slope exposure. Therefore, we set up a climosequence-approach to study the effect of exposure and, in general, climate, on the microbial biomass and microbial diversity and activity,...
Mountain ecosystems are characterised by a high climatic variability, thereby affecting the principal biogeochemical soil processes with further implications on ecosystem functioning and soil microbial diversity. Indeed, the composition and diversity of soil microbial communities is expected to be greatly influenced by environmental factors such as...
The composition and functioning of the rhizosphere microbiome is directly affected by the nutrient content of the soil. Besides this, the availability of nutrients also strongly influences the structure and performance of plant communities, which in addition affects the microbial community structure and accompanying microbial traits due to differen...
The composition and functioning of the rhizosphere microbiome is directly affected by the nutrient content of the soil. Besides this, the availability of nutrients also strongly influences the structure and performance of plant communities, which in addition affects the microbial community structure and accompanying microbial traits due to differen...
Due to the high diversity of bacteria in many ecosystems, their slow generation times, specific but mostly unknown nutrient requirements and syntrophic interactions, isolation based approaches in microbial ecology mostly fail to describe microbial community structure. Thus cultivation independent techniques, which rely on directly extracted nucleic...
Long-term experiments are pivotal to agricultural and environmental research to evaluate the effects that different types of farming systems have in maintaining soil quality and productivity (Rasmussen et al., 1998; Powlson et al., 2011). The "Static fertilization experiment" in Bad Lauchstädt, established in 1902, aims to provide a comprehensive u...
To evaluate the effects of management practices and seasons on a soil bacterial community and the composition of ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB), molecular screenings were compared among Mediterranean (Sardinia) soils with different plant covers and different agricultural practices, namely cork oak forest, tilled/non-tilled vineyard, hay crop and...
