Dr. Ciska Veen
ResearcherTerrestrial Ecology |
Research expertiseAboveground-belowground interactions Community ecology Decomposition Grasslands Grazing Home-field advantage
Page last updated: 20-03-2018
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I am a Junior Group Leader at the Netherlands Institute in Ecology in Wageningen (the Netherlands). I am a soil ecologist interested to understand diversity, species composition and the functioning of ecological communities. Currently, my research focusses on the role of specialized microorganisms in driving C and N cycling, their feedback to plant communities, the impact of global environmental change on soil processes and the feedback of biogeochemical cycling to atmospheric C concentrations.
Education and research positions
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1999 - 2005: BSc and MSc at University of Groningen (the Netherlands). Graduated Cum laude
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2005 - 2011: PhD study at University of Groningen (the Netherlands) on interactions between aboveground grazers and soil organisms; promotors: Prof. Han Olff & Prof. Wim van der Putten
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2011: postdoc at Netherlands Institute of Ecology (the Netherlands) on the impact of grazers on riparian vegetation. Advisor: Elisabeth Bakker
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2011 - 2014: postdoc at Swedish Agricultural University (Sweden) on home-field advantage in litter decomposition. Advisor: David Wardle
- 2014 - current: Junior Group Leader and VENI-laureate at Netherlands Institute of Ecology (the Netherlands).
I am a soil ecologist interested to understand diversity, species composition and the functioning of ecological communities. I aim to understand how interactions between aboveground and belowground organisms shape ecological communities and ecosystem processes. In my current research projects I investigate (1) how species-specific relationships between plants and decomposers develop and how that affects the breakdown of plant litter, soil carbon (C) and nutrient (N) cycling and plant growth, (2) how global changes in populations of large vertebrate herbivores impact C and N cycling in grasslands and (3) how soil processes develop during the transition from conventional to organic agriculture.
(1) VENI project: Specialists at work - how decomposers break down plant litter
Evidence is increasing that local variation in decomposer community composition and functioning plays a key role in driving C and N cycling in the soil. The knowledge obtained in this VENI project will help us to find tools for steering microbial communities to make agriculture more sustainable and will aid climate modelling.
- Home-field advantage: litter breakdown is often accelerated underneath the plant where the litter originates from, indicating that decomposer communities can be specialized to break down litter from the plant they are associated with. We use field and greenhouse experiments to get a mechanistic understanding of specific litter-decomposer interactions and their feedback effects on plant growth.
- Local variation: using a transect across Europe we explore how local variation in climate and decomposer communities drives litter decomposition across large spatial scales (see our publication in Nature Ecology and Evolution)
- Global patterns: together with the Dutch LOGlife experiment we participate in a worldwide experiments on wood decomposition to elucidate drivers of decomposition processes on a global scale.
- Global environmental change: we study range-expanding plant species to understand the consequences of decoupling plants and specialized decomposer communities. The PhD student working on this project is Marta Manrubia-Freixa.
Reciprocal litter transplant experiments in Abisko (Sweden) to distentangle the role of microorganisms in litter breakdown.
(2) Impacts of large herbivors on C and N cycling in grasslands
Large vertebrate herbivores are key drivers of the functioning of grassland ecosystems. However, herbivore populations are changing rapidly nowadays due to extinction, land-use change and rewilding. In this project we aim to understand how changes in herbivore populations affect C and N cycles in grazed grasslands. We use a national network of grazing experiments and established the first Dutch site in the globally distributed experiment NutNet to address our questions.
Photo credits: Judith Sitters
(3) Vital soils - sustainable intensification of agriculture
In this project we unravel biological, chemical and physical changes during the transistion from conventional to organic agriculture and we aim to find tools for accelerating soil transformation during this transition. PhD students in this project are Sophie van Rijssel (NIOO) and Guusje Koorneef (WUR).
Photo credits: Ron de Goede
Current collaborations
Mark Bradford (Yale University, USA)
David Wardle (Swedisch Agricultural University, Sweden)
Paul Kardol (Swedisch Agricultural University, Sweden)
Liesbeth Bakker (NIOO, Netherlands)
Judith Sitters (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)
The full publication list of Ciska Veen can be found on google scholar
- Li, Y., Chen, X., Veen, G. F., Eisenhauer, N., Liang, Y., Zhou, X.,... Ma, K. (2018). Negative effects of litter richness on root decomposition in the presence of detritivores. Functional Ecology, Online. doi:10.1111/1365-2435.13057
- Mariotte, P., Mehrabi, Z., Bezemer, T. M., De Deyn, G. B., Kulmatiski, A., Drigo, B.,... Kardol, P. (2018). Plant-Soil Feedback: Bridging Natural and Agricultural Sciences. Trends in Ecology and Evolution, 33(2), 129-142. doi:10.1016/j.tree.2017.11.005
- Veen, G. F., Keiser, A. D., van der Putten, W. H., & Wardle, D. A. (2018). Variation in home-field advantage and ability in leaf litter decomposition across successional gradients. Functional Ecology, in press.
- Bradford, M. A., Veen, G. F., Bonis, A., Bradford, E. M., Classen, A. T., Cornelissen, J. H. C.,... van der Putten, W. H. (2017). A test of the hierarchical model of litter decomposition. Nature Ecology and Evolution, 1, 1836-1845. doi:10.1038/s41559-017-0367-4
- Cortois, R., Veen, G. F., Duyts, H., Abbas, M., Strecker, T., Kostenko, O.,... van der Putten, W. H. (2017). Possible mechanisms underlying abundance and diversity responses of nematode communities to plant diversity. Ecosphere, 8(5), [e01719]. doi:10.1002/ecs2.1719
- Sarneel, J. M., & Veen, G. F. (2017). Legacy effects of altered flooding regimes on decomposition in a boreal floodplain. Plant and Soil, 421(1-2), 57-66. doi:10.1007/s11104-017-3382-y
- Sitters, J., Bakker, E. S., Veldhuis, M., Veen, G. F., Venterink, H. O., & Vanni, M. J. (2017). The stoichiometry of nutrient release by terrestrial herbivores and its ecosystem consequences. Frontiers of Earth Science, 5, [feart.2017.00032]. doi:10.3389/feart.2017.00032
- Ter Heerdt, G. N. J., Veen, G. F., Van der Putten, W. H., & Bakker, J. P. (2017). Effects of temperature, moisture and soil type on seedling emergence and mortality of riparian plant species. Aquatic Botany, 136, 82-94. doi:10.1016/j.aquabot.2016.09.008
- Veen, G. F., De Long, J. R., Kardol, P., Sundqvist, M. K., Snoek, B., & Wardle, D. A. (2017). Coordinated responses of soil communities to elevation in three subarctic vegetation types. Oikos, 126(11), 1586-1599. doi:10.1111/oik.04158
- Bakker, E. S., Wood, K. A., Pagès, J. F., Veen, G. F., Christianen, M. J. A., Santamaría, L.,... Hilt, S. (2016). Herbivory on freshwater and marine macrophytes: a review and perspective. Aquatic Botany, 135, 18-36. doi:10.1016/j.aquabot.2016.04.008
- van der Putten, W. H., Bradford, M., Brinkman, E. P., van de Voorde, T. F. J., & Veen, G. F. (2016). Where, when and how plant-soil feedback matters in a changing world. Functional Ecology, 30(7), 1109-1121. doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12657
- Zhang, N., van der Putten, W. H., & Veen, G. F. (2016). Effects of root decomposition on plant–soil feedback of early– and mid–successional plant species. New Phytologist, 212(1), 220-231. doi:10.1111/nph.14007
- De Long, J. R., Kardol, P., Sundqvist, M. K., Veen, G. F., & Wardle, D. A. (2015). Plant growth response to direct and indirect temperature effects varies by vegetation type and elevation in a subarctic tundra. Oikos, 124(6), 772-783. doi:10.1111/oik.01764
- Kardol, P., Veen, G. F., Teste, F. P., & Perring, M. P. (2015). Peeking into the black box: A trait-based approach to predicting plant-soil feedback. New Phytologist, 206(1), 1-4. doi:10.1111/nph.13283
- Veen, G. F., Freschet, G. T., Ordonez, A., & Wardle, D. A. (2015). Litter quality and environmental controls of home-field advantage effects on litter decomposition. Oikos, 124(2), 187-195. doi:10.1111/oik.01374
- Veen, G. F., Sundqvist, M. K., & Wardle, D. A. (2015). Environmental factors and traits that drive plant litter decomposition do not determine home-field advantage effects. Functional Ecology, 29(7), 981-991. doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12421
- Veen, G. F., Sundqvist, M. K., Metcalfe, D., & Wilson, S. D. (2015). Above-ground and below-ground plant responses to fertilization in two subarctic ecosystems. Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research, 47(4), 693-702. doi:10.1657/AAAR0014-085
- Sarneel, J. M., Huig, N., Veen, G. F., Rip, W., & Bakker, E. S. (2014). Herbivores enforce sharp boundaries between terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Ecosystems, 17(8), 1426-1438. doi:10.1007/s10021-014-9805-1
- Veen, G. F., De Vries, S., Bakker, E. S., Van der Putten, W. H., & Olff, H. (2014). Grazing-induced changes in plant–soil feedback alter plant biomass allocation. Oikos, 123(7), 800-806. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0706.2013.01077.x
- Revilla, T. A., Veen, G. F., Eppinga, M. B., & Weissing, F. J. (2013). Plant-soil feedbacks and the coexistence of competing plants. Theoretical Ecology, 6(2), 99-113. doi:10.1007/s12080-012-0163-3
- Schrama, M., Veen, G. F., Bakker, E. S., Ruifrok, J. L., Bakker, J. P., & Olff, H. (2013). An integrated perspective to explain nitrogen mineralization in grazed ecosystems. Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics, 15(1), 32-44. doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2012.12.001
- Veen, G. F., Sarneel, J. M., Ravensbergen, L., Huig, N., van Paassen, J., Rip, W., & Bakker, E. S. (2013). Aquatic grazers reduce the establishment and growth of riparian plants along an environmental gradient. Freshwater Biology, 58(9), 1794-1803. doi:10.1111/fwb.12168
- Veen, G. F., Geuverink, E., & Olff, H. (2012). Large grazers modify effects of aboveground–belowground interactions on small-scale plant community composition. Oecologia, 168(2), 511-518. doi:10.1007/s00442-011-2093-y
- Veen, G. F., & Olff, H. (2011). Interactive effects of soil-dwelling ants, ant mounds and simulated grazing on local plant community composition. Basic and Applied Ecology, 12(8), 703-712. doi:10.1016/j.baae.2011.10.001
- Veen, G. F., Olff, H., Duyts, H., & Van der Putten, W. H. (2010). Vertebrate herbivores influence soil nematodes by modifying plant communities. Ecology, 91(3), 828-835. doi:10.1890/09-0134.1
- Veen, G. F., Blair, J., Smith, M., & Collins, S. (2008). Influence of grazing and fire frequency on small-scale plant community structure and resource variability in native tallgrass prairie. Oikos, 117(6), 859-866. doi:10.1111/j.0030-1299.2008.16515.x
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- Sarneel, J. M., Hidding, B., Van Leeuwen, C. H. A., Veen, G. F., van Paassen, J., Huig, N., & Bakker, E. S. (2012). Effecten van waterpeilfluctuatie op vegetatie. (Flexibel Peil: van denken naar doen, 2010-2012). Wageningen: NIOO.
