Wageningen University & Research
Wageningen University and Research centre (Wageningen UR) is a leading international organization. Within the field of healthy nutrition and living environment we are working on the quality of life.
The Soil Biology Group blends expertise from the soil, plant and ecological sciences to strengthen cutting edge research and education in the areas of Fertile Soils; Soils in a Changing Climate; Functional Soil Biodiversityand Soil Biological Indicators and Land Management.
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 focus our research:
- The role of soil biota in nutrient cycling to enhance plant soil interactions and associated ecosystem services;
- The species 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;
- How soil and land management can enhance soil health and the beneficial soil functions provided by soil biota;
- 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 soil organic matter and nutrient dynamics, soil communities and biological processes, plant-soil interactions and feedbacks, trait-based ecology of soil biota, soil biological indicators and biofunctionality of carbon. The Soil Biology Group is supported by four laboratories, including; a soil biology lab, microscopy lab, microbiology lab and molecular ecology lab. We also work in close collaboration with soil chemistry laboratories and with a soil physics lab.