Open Access

This repository includes data derived from raw data (10.5281/zenodo.17184214) and presented in an Excel file. The structure of the Excel file is strongly connected to the presented data evaluation code. The results of the data and code are presented in a linked publication. Data are aquired 04.2024, processed 05.2025 and submitted for publication 04.2026. - Data: Analyzed Imaging PAM-F data of the subaerial green alga Jaagichlorella sp. - inouclated on three different materials - inoculated in two different concentration ranges - measured with different software measurement settings - Code: Custumisable Python code allows a tailoring to the specific experimental design. For each given combination of software measurement setting, algal inoculation and material: - Checks for data quality - Asesses detection limits - Performs linear regressions Based on this, the best software measuement setting for a combination of material and inoculation range is selected and linear calibration curves are created.

Pilze gehören zu den erfolgreichsten Besiedlern harter, nährstoffarmer Oberflächen. Besonders melanisierte schwarze Pilze können extreme Bedingungen wie UV-Strahlung, Austrocknung, Temperaturschwankungen und Schadstoffbelastungen überstehen. Diese Organismen prägen subaerische Biofilme auf Gesteinen, Bauwerken, Solaranlagen und anderen technischen Materialien. Der Vortrag gibt einen Überblick über die Ökologie, Biodiversität und Anpassungsstrategien dieser extremotoleranten Pilze. Anhand des Modellorganismus Knufia petricola werden aktuelle Erkenntnisse aus Genomik und funktioneller Genetik vorgestellt, die zum Verständnis der Besiedlung mineralischer und technischer Oberflächen beitragen. Zudem wird gezeigt, wie Pilzbiofilme Materialeigenschaften beeinflussen, zur Verschmutzung technischer Oberflächen beitragen und als Modell- und Referenzsysteme für Materialforschung und Monitoring genutzt werden können.

Microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC) remains one of the least predictable and most challenging forms of corrosion despite decades of intensive research. Traditionally, MIC has largely been investigated by identifying individual microorganisms associated with material degradation, with sulfate-reducing bacteria (SRB) dominating both scientific research and industrial practice. While this organism-centred perspective has provided important mechanistic insights, it only partially explains the complexity of MIC observed in real engineering systems. Over the past decade, research on methanogen-induced MIC has challenged several long-standing assumptions and contributed to a broader understanding of microbially driven corrosion [1]. These studies demonstrated that microorganisms previously considered of minor relevance can substantially accelerate corrosion under specific environmental conditions. More importantly, they revealed that microbial identity alone is insufficient to explain MIC. Instead, corrosion emerges from dynamic interactions between microbial communities, biofilms, engineering materials and their surrounding environment [2]. Drawing on research spanning methanogen-induced corrosion mechanisms, dynamic flow systems, biofilm–material interactions and recent developments in realistic MIC testing, this contribution reflects on how our understanding of MIC has evolved over the last decade. It illustrates how the field has progressively moved from simplified laboratory experiments towards experimental approaches that better reproduce the complexity and dynamics of industrial and natural environments [3]. Looking ahead, climate change, environmental pollution, ageing infrastructure and the global energy transition are expected to further increase the relevance of MIC across a wide range of industrial sectors. Addressing these challenges will require realistic testing strategies, harmonised FAIR datasets and closer integration of microbiology, corrosion science, materials engineering and data science to enable predictive corrosion management. Rather than asking which microorganism causes corrosion, future MIC research should increasingly focus on under which environmental conditions microbial communities become corrosive. This conceptual shift provides an important foundation for developing the next generation of predictive and sustainable MIC management strategies.

Subsociality and wood-eating or xylophagy are understood as key drivers in the evolution of eusociality in Blattodea (cockroaches and termites), two features observed in the cockroach genus Cryptocercus, the sister group of all termites. We analyze two high-quality genomes from this genus, C. punctulatus from North America and C. meridianus from Southeast Asia, to explore the evolutionary transitions to xylophagy and subsociality within Blattodea. Our analyses reveal evidence of relaxed selection in both Cryptocercus and termites, indicating that a reduction in effective population size may have occurred in their subsocial ancestors. These findings challenge the expected positive correlation between dN/dS ratios and social complexity, as Cryptocercus exhibits elevated dN/dS values that may exceed those of eusocial termites. Additionally, we infer a reduction in the number of Ionotropic Receptors and a change from uni- to bimodal methylation signatures in protein coding genes in a common ancestor of Cryptocercus and termites, mechanisms previously thought to have evolved with the emergence of eusociality in termites. Future studies incorporating additional genomic data from diverse blattodean species can further build on these findings and provide deeper insights into the molecular mechanisms driving transitions to xylophagy and eusociality.

Incineration is currently the only commercial full-scale technology available to destroy per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in large solid and liquid waste streams. Given previous experience of dioxin formation during halogenated waste incineration, concerns about the emission of products of incomplete destruction (PIDs) from PFAS incineration exist. The overarching objective of this project is to track the fate of fluorine during full-scale hazardous waste incineration in order to demonstrate the readiness, viability, and level of safety for thermal PFAS destruction in various waste streams. The specific objectives of this project are to enhance our understanding of key variables and conditions on PFAS incineration performance, to identify major PIDs under insufficient treatment conditions, to explore the catalytic role of fly ash and other process-relevant surfaces in thermal PFAS decomposition, and to determine the potential formation of polyfluorinated dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans