Department of Microbial Ecology

The microbial world represents a largely unknown reservoir of biodiversity that is fundamental to sustaining key ecosystem processes, such as nutrient cycling and primary production, across the breadth of the Earth’s ecosystems.

In order to understand the role of microbial communities in ecosystem processes and to solve the major problems associated with human impact on the environment, comprehensive fundamental knowledge of microbial ecology & evolution is essential.

The primary focus of the department is to understand the ecology, diversity and functions of microorganisms in natural and man-made ecosystems.

We are actively involved in several of the NIOO-wide research themes, in particular chemical communication, microbiomes, global environmental change, eco-evolutionary dynamics and disease ecology.
 

More specifically, we study: 

• Biogeochemical cycling and the role of microorganisms in greenhouse gas emissions & climate change (Paul Bodelier, Riks Laanbroek)
• The dynamics and functioning of soil and rhizosphere microorganisms in temperate and tropical ecosystems (Eiko Kuramae)
• The chemical ecology of microorganisms in natural and man-made ecosystems (Paolina Garbeva)
• The evolution of bacterial communities and plant viruses (Mark Zwart)
• Fungal-bacterial interactions and microbial decomposition of organic matter (Wietse de Boer)
• Diversity, assembly & functioning of microbiomes associated with plants and other eukaryotes (Jos Raaijmakers)