ForHot
Natural soil warming in natural grasslands and a Sitka spruce forest in Iceland
Project manager (PI): Andrea Söllinger & Alexander T. Tveit
Project description:
How soil microorganisms respond to global warming is a key question in microbial ecology and eminently relevant for soil ecosystems, the terrestrial carbon cycle, and the climate system. Microorganisms are responsible for the degradation of soil organic C (SOC) and the subsequent emission of greenhouse gases, such as CO2, to the atmosphere. Thus, microbial responses to global warming will determine how much carbon is released from soils in a warmer future.
Within the international ForHot consortium we aim at revealing basic physiological and cellular responses of soil microorganisms to global (long-term) warming and their consequences on the microbial control of the terrestrial carbon cycle, which are currently poorly understood.
(Picture: Mathilde Borg Dahl)
ForHot team:
Core project team @ UiT:
Andrea Söllinger (PI), Alexander T. Tveit (PI), Hannah Bornemann (Master student)
Former team members: Laureen Sarah Ahlers (Master student, graduated June 2023), Liabo Motleleng (Principal Engineer), Eva Marie Breines (Chief Engineer), Thea Ramona Olsen (Bachelor student, graduated June 2022)
ForHot collaborators @ UiT:
Tilman Schmider
International collaborators:
Agricultural University of Iceland, Iceland: Bjarni D. Sigurdsson (ForHot lead)
University of Vienna, Austria: Andreas Richter
University of Greifswald, Germany: Mathilde Borg Dahl, Tim Urich
Biology Centre CAS, České Budějovice, Czech Republic: Anne Daebeler
& the ForHot consortium
ForHot publications:
Soil trace gas oxidizers divergently respond to short- and long-term warming. Thanh Nguyen-Dinh, Vojtech Tlaskal, Pok Man Leung, Magdalena Wutkowska, Justus Amuche Nweze, Katri Yla-Soininmaki, Johanna Kerttula, Mathilde Borg Dahl, Andrea Söllinger, Tilman Schmider, Christina Biasi, Andreas Richter, Tim Urich, Alexander T. Tveit, Chris Greening, Bjarni D. Sigurdsson and Anne Daebeler. 2025. Pre-print
Quantifying Soil Microbiome Abundance by Metatranscriptomics and Complementary Molecular Techniques—Cross-Validation and Perspectives. Mathilde Borg Dahl, Stella Brachmann, Andrea Söllinger, Marina Schnell, Laureen S. Ahlers, Magdalena Wutkowska, Katharina J. Hoff, Neetika Nath, Verena Groß, Haitao Wang, Micha Weil, Marc Piecha, Marc Schaffer, Corinna Jensen, Andreas W. Kuss, Christoph Gall, Erika Wimmer, Thomas Pribasnig, Alexander Tøsdal Tveit, Bjarni D. Sigurdsson, Christa Schleper, Andreas Richter and Tim Urich. 2025. Molecular Ecology Resources
Microorganisms in subarctic soils are depleted of ribosomes under short-, medium-, and long-term warming. Andrea Söllinger, Laureen S. Ahlers, Mathilde Borg Dahl, Páll Sigurðsson, Coline Le Noir de Carlan, Biplabi Bhattarai, Christoph Gall, Victoria S. Martin, Cornelia Rottensteiner, Liabo L. Motleleng, Eva Marie Breines, Erik Verbruggen, Ivika Ostonen, Bjarni D Sigurdsson, Andreas Richter, and Alexander T. Tveit. 2024. The ISME Journal
Microbial responses to warming and seasonal temperature changes in sub-Arctic forest and grassland soils. Laureen S. Ahlers. 2023. Master thesis
Long-term warming-induced trophic downgrading in the soil microbial food web. Mathilde Borg Dahl, Andrea Söllinger, Páll Sigurðsson, Ivan Janssens, Josep Peñuelas, Bjarni D. Sigurdsson, Andreas Richter, Alexander Tveit, and Tim Urich. 2023. Soil Biology and Biochemistry
Down-regulation of the bacterial protein biosynthesis machinery in response to weeks, years, and decades of soil warming. Andrea Söllinger, Joana Séneca, Mathilde Borg Dahl, Liabo L. Motleleng, Judith Prommer, Erik Verbruggen, Bjarni D. Sigurdsson, Ivan Janssens, Josep Peñuelas, Tim Urich, Andreas Richter, Alexander T. Tveit. 2022. Science Advances
Increased microbial expression of organic nitrogen cycling genes in long-term warmed grassland soils. Joana Séneca, Andrea Söllinger, Craig W. Herbold, Petra Pjevac, Judith Prommer, Erik Verbruggen, Bjarni D. Sigurdsson, Josep Peñuelas, Ivan A. Janssens, Tim Urich, Alexander T. Tveit, Andreas Richter. 2021. ISME Communications
Financial/grant information:
Research Council of Norway (Researcher Project Young Research Talents) - 344999 SHRINK.
Tromsø Research Foundation (TFS) - 17_SG_ATT
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Contact: Andrea Söllinger (andrea.soellinger@uit.no)
Last updated, April 2026