Dagmar Wöbken

In drylands, soil microorganisms adapted to the desert climate fulfil important ecosystem functions. It is assumed that their activity is largely limited to rare, short and unpredictable rainfall events. However, other water sources, namely fog, dew and water vapor adsorption, exist in deserts and occur more frequently and reliably. In her ERC-funded project WinMicAct, Dagmar Woebken and her team will investigate the significance of these so-called non-rainwater inputs for microbial activities and the preservation of microbial diversity, and their overall contribution to microbially driven ecosystem processes.