Wageningen University & Research
Wageningen University & ResearchThe mission of our University is to explore the potential of nature to improve the quality of life. Within Wageningen University & Research, nine specialised research institutes from the Wageningen Research Foundation and Wageningen University have joined forces to help answer the most important questions in the domain of healthy food and living environment. With approximately 30 locations, 5,000 employees, and 10,000 students, it is one of the leading organisations in its domain worldwide. An integrated approach to problems and the cooperation between various disciplines are at the heart of the unique approach of Wageningen.
The Soil Biology Group blends expertise from the soil, plant and ecological sciences in cutting edge research and education in the areas of Fertile Soil; Soils in a Changing Climate; and Soil Biodiversity & Ecosystem Services.
The Soil Biology group integrates knowledge on soil biota across a range of scales from the microbe to the globe. Our mission is to use soil processes driven by soil biota to develop and maintain sustainable agro-ecosystems. We have four core themes in which we complete our research:
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The role of soil biota in nutrient cycling to enhance plant soil interactions and associated ecosystem services;
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The richness and community composition of soil biota coupled with soil functions (nutrient provision, carbon management, pest and disease resilience and resistance, water regulation and purification) in (agro)ecosystems;
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How soil and land management can enhance soil health and the beneficial soil functions provided by soil biota;
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The effects of climate change on soil life, and the controls that soil life exerts on greenhouse gas emissions from the soil.
Our multi-disciplinary team includes expertise in nutrient dynamics, microbial processes and assemblages, mycology, soil faunal identification, and food-web systems, plant-soil feedbacks, trait-based ecology of soil biota, soil biological indicators, biofunctionality of carbon, agro-ecology, agronomy, monitoring systems, statistical and mechanistic modelling of soil biological systems. The Soil Biology Group is supported by four laboratories for developing the research, including; a soil biology lab, microscopy lab, microbiology lab and molecular ecology lab. We also work in close collaboration with soil chemistry laboratories of the soil chemistry chair group.