SHRINK
Is Global Warming Shrinking Soil Microorganisms?
OR Causes and Consequences of Microbial Physiological Adjustments to Changing Temperatures
Project manager (PI): Andrea Söllinger
Project description:
Soil microorganisms are responsible for the degradation of soil organic carbon (C) and the subsequent release of billions of tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. It is of great concern that global warming is increasing microbial activities and microbial-derived CO2 emissions from soils, especially in northern regions. To meet national and global climate action plans, such as Norway’s Climate Action Plan for 2021–2030 and the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, we urgently need to understand soil-climate feedback loops triggered by warming, including underlying microbial activities. SHRINK is based on our recent discovery that soil microorganisms exposed to warming reduce their cellular numbers of ribosomes, their “protein production factories” (Söllinger et al., 2022. Science Advances). This implies extensive cellular resource re-allocations which could lead to large changes in CO2 emissions from soils. SHRINK will reveal the molecular basis of ribosome reduction, uncover the effect of this key physiological mechanism on microbial cells and their physiological states, and assess implications for soil ecosystems and microbial-derived CO2 emissions from soils.
SHRINK team:
Core project team @ UiT:
Andrea Söllinger (PI), Julia Brzykcy (SHRINK PhD candidate), Hannah Bornemann (Master student)
Former team members: Ragnhild Helene Grøholt Pryt (Master student, graduated June 2025)
SHRINK collaborators @ UiT:
Alexander T. Tveit, Tilman Schmider, Ines Heiland
International collaborators:
University of Greifswald, Germany: Mathilde Borg Dahl, Tim Urich
University of Vienna, Austria: Andreas Richter, Lucia Fuchslueger, Hannes Schmidt, Thomas Rattei
Agricultural University of Iceland, Iceland: Bjarni D. Sigurdsson
SHRINK publications:
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
Seasonal dynamics in RNA:DNA ratios of marine microbial communities in a high latitude estuary. Master thesis by Ragnhild Helene Grøholt Pryt. 2025.
SHRINK dissemination & public outreach:
(A selection of recent activities)
Pint of Science Festival 2025, Tromsø. "Digging into the soil warming: how microbes can influence our climate" presented by Julia Brzykcy
ForHot Workshop 2025, University of Vienna, Austria: Joint Ecosystem Assessment on the Effects of Natural Soil Warming and N-input Manipulation on Subarctic Grasslands and Forests. "The SHRINK project – A brief introduction" presented by Andrea Söllinger. "Tracking microbial activity in soil upon warming" presented by Julia Brzykcy.
ISME19, the 19th International Symposium on Microbial Ecology, August 2024, Cape Town, South Africa. "Are soil microorganisms depleted of ribosomes under short-, medium-, and long-term warming?" presented by Andrea Söllinger.
Spring Meeting of the Norwegian Society for Microbiology, 2024. "Are soil microorganisms depleted of ribosomes under short-, medium-, and long-term warming?" presented by Andrea Söllinger.
SHRINK collaborations:
(A selection of 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 Daebele. 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 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
Financial/grant information:
Research Council of Norway (Researcher Project Young Research Talents) - 344999 SHRINK.
******
Contact: Andrea Söllinger (andrea.soellinger@uit.no)
Last updated, February 2025