Graduate Prize 2025 for research into root exudates

Award from the journal Tree Physiology

Prof. Dr. Melanie Brunn has been awarded the Graduate Prize 2025 by the international journal Tree Physiology for her scientific article “Tree carbon allocation to root exudates: implications for carbon budgets, soil sequestration and drought response”. 

The article sheds light on a hitherto poorly understood component of the forest carbon cycle: the release of carbon-containing compounds into the soil by living tree roots, a process known as root exudation. This largely invisible carbon flux plays a key role in the interactions between plants, soils and microorganisms, as well as in soil carbon storage and trees’ response to drought stress.

The award-winning work highlights how important it is to gain a better understanding of this hitherto under-considered carbon flux in order to assess the impacts of climate change on forest ecosystems.

About the publication:  https://academic.oup.com/treephys/article/45/4/tpaf026/8046861