Thank you to everyone who joined us in Leysin for the 48th New Phytologist Symposium: Forest interactions.

We are delighted to congratulate the winner of the poster prize, one runner up and five honourable mentions.

Poster prize winner

Lena Sachsenmaier​
German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig & Leipzig University, Germany​

Poster 57: Stomatal behaviour across 38 tree species is not explained by commonly measured leaf traits​

Maarja Öpik, Lena Sachsenmaier and Amy Austin

Poster prize runner up

Eva Kubove
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden​

Poster 31: Dual removal of ecto- and ericoid mycorrhizal fungi stimulates saprotrophs to decompose humus stocks in a boreal pine forest​

Maarja Öpik, Eva Kubove and Amy Austin

Honourable mention

Milagros Barcelo
Hasselt University, Belgium​

Poster 4: Aboveground vegetation misrepresents global patterns of mycorrhizal dominance: a root-based perspective​

Maarja Öpik, Milagros Barcelo and Amy Austin

Honourable mention

Matilde Maria Bragadini​
ETH Zurich, Switzerland​

Poster 10: Soil microbes contribute to forest carbon stock across secondary succession of tropical moist forest in Panama​

Maarja Öpik, Matidla Maria Bragadini and Amy Austin

Honourable mention

Louis Graup
Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Switzerland​

Poster 27: Interactions between tree hydraulic strategies and soil water dynamics determine forest drought stress​

Maarja Öpik, Louis Graup and Amy Austin

Honourable mention

Cas Verbeek
Naturalis Biodiversity Centre, the Netherlands​

Poster 69: Understories as biodiversity reservoirs for arbuscular mycorrhizal and root endophytic fungi in temperate European forests​

Maarja Öpik, Cas Verbeek and Amy Austin

Honourable mention

Anita Weissflog
ETH Zurich, Switzerland

Poster 75: Insect herbivores and fungi alter seedling dynamics in recovering tropical forests​

Maarja Öpik, Anita Weissflog and Amy Austin

Photos courtesy of Yadvinder Malhi.


48th New Phytologist Symposium

13 October 2026 - 16 October 2026
Leysin, Switzerland

Forest interactions

Explore plant interactions in forest environments at all levels from micro- to macro-scales and across the whole spectrum of plant biology.

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