'It’s wonderful to work in a place where there is so much knowledge on plant and soil biology'

What is your research about?

My research is centered around feedback interactions between plants and belowground communities of micro-organisms and small soil animals: plants attract species-specific assemblages of such soil biota, which, in turn, affect subsequent plant growth. I study the drivers of variation in these ‘plant-soil feedbacks’, both from the soil- and plant perspective. At WUR, I’m particularly trying to understand the effect of the surrounding plant community on the feedback interactions that single plants develop.

Why do you think it’s important to do research on this subject?

We know that plant-soil feedbacks are an important underlying driver of, for example, natural vegetation dynamics and exotic plant invasions. However, most of this knowledge is based on experiments examining interactions of single plants. Consequently, we still lack knowledge on how these feedback interactions work out in complex ecological communities. Incorporating this complexity may also help to understand how diversification of cropping systems will change plant-soil interactions there.

How did you get so passionate about this research subject?

The important role of soil type as a driver of vegetation and the distribution of plant species has fascinated me since I became interested in botany, already quite some years ago. The realization that interactions between plants and soil biota may play an important role in the rapidly changing vegetation under global change really drew me into the topic of plant-soil feedbacks.

If there were no limits in time and budget, what would you like to discover in the future?

To start with, I would expand my research to also include the organisms that interact with plants aboveground, for example by setting up a long-term field experiment examining feedback interactions among communities of plants, aboveground insects and soil biota, in order to better understand how these organismal groups interactively affect one another in natural systems.

How do you like working at WUR?

It’s wonderful to work in a place where there is so much knowledge on plant and soil biology. Moreover, I find it very special and rewarding to be able to contribute to the teaching of courses that strongly inspired me when I was a student here myself.