Dr. Jasper Wubs
ResearcherTerrestrial Ecology |
Research themes
Research expertiseCarbon cycling Ecosystem functions Molecular ecology Nature restoration Plant and soil ecology data analysis multivariate analysis
Page last updated: 20-12-2018
As an ecologist I am trained to unravel the complex web of interactions that shape natural and agro-ecosystems. I am interested mainly in plants and soil biota, which I study from population to ecosystem level through a combination of lab and field experiments and molecular analysis.
In my PhD project I focus on plant-soil interactions (mainly plant-soil feedback) and how natural and human (e.g. through soil inoculations) alterations in the soil biotic community affect plant performance and the vegetation development. In addition, I have a strong interest in the application of our ecological knowledge of plant-soil interactions in order to make agricultural systems more sustainable.
While as an academic ecologist it is my job to ask fundamental ecological questions and to confront hypotheses with emperical data, I also strongly feel the need to explore the potential of plant-soil interactions to improve nature conservation, ecological restoration and sustainable agriculture.
Recently, we published our work on soil inoculation where we could show that ecosystem restoration could be steered towards different ecosystem types depending on the inoculum source. In addition, we argue that it is the soil biota in the inocula that determine which way the ecosystem will develop. See also viewpoints in Science, The Scientist and elsewhere. For Dutch speaker see NRC next.
Effect of soil inoculation with two inocula shows that plant community composition is directed in the direction of either of the respective donor communities.
Employment
2018-present Postdoctoral Fellow. Sustainable Agroecosystems Group, ETH Zürich, Switserland. Project: Soil microbiome engineering to reverse land degradation and enhance crop production in sub-Saharan Africa (NWO Rubicon to ERJW), with: Prof. J. Six.
2018-present Guest Researcher. Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW).
2017-2018 Postdoctoral Fellow. Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW). Projects:
- Plant and soil community development during two decades of nature restoration.
- Global synthesis of bottom-up and top-down controls on soil carbon stocks.
- Phytobiome interactions in range expanding plants across a latitudinal gradient in Europe.
- Plant-soil community coupling in a 3000km aridity gradient in Inner Mongolia, China.
2012-2017 PhD Candidate, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and Wageningen University, the Netherlands. Project: Soil heterogeneity as a key to restoring nature and biodiversity on former arable fields (NWO, Biodiversiteit werkt). Supervisors: dr. ir. Martijn Bezemer and prof. dr. ir. Wim van der Putten.
2014-2016 Researcher, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), the Netherlands. Project: “Towards an ecology-intense agriculture: learning from nature” (KNAW, Over grenzen), with: dr. Ciska Veen and prof. dr. Louise Vet.
2010-2012 Junior Researcher, Ecology & Biodiversity Group, Utrecht University.
2008-2011 Teaching assistant Applied Biostatistics and Ecology courses, Utrecht University.
Education
2007-2010 M.Sc. Biological Sciences (Specialization Environmental Biology) – Utrecht University.
2004-2007 B.Sc. Biology – Utrecht University.
Awarded prizes
2016 Zilveren Parnassia (Silver Parnassia), award for socially engaged young scientist in the field of natural science, nature conservation and nature education. Westhoff-Chair, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
2013 1st runner-up for the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS) Young Scientist Oral Presentation Award, 56th IAVS Symposium, Tartu, Estonia.
Additional activities
2013-present Journal referee: Ecology Letters, Journal of Ecology, New Phytologist, Functional Ecology, Oikos, Journal of Applied Ecology, Oecologia, Plant & Soil, Environmental Microbiology, Applied Soil Ecology, Applied Vegetation Science, Pedobiologia, PeerJ, Plant Biology, Preslia, PLoS ONE, Scientific Reports.
2015-2016 Member of the Advisory Appointment Committee to the Academic Board of Wageningen University for appointment of a new Professor of Soil Biology and Biological Soil Quality.
2013-2016 Member C.T. de Wit Graduate School for Production Ecology & Resource Conservation (PE&RC) PhD Council (PPC) and PE&RC Education Committee, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
2014-present Member of the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative (GSBI), including the Early-Career Scientist Group.
2009–present Member of the British Ecological Society (BES).
Full publication list
For my full publication list (i.e. including non-NIOO) see here.
Publications for practitioners (in Dutch)
Wubs ERJ, Van der Putten WH, Bosch M, Bezemer TM. 2016. Natuurherstel door grondtransplantatie. Landschap 33(1): 11-14.
Van Noppen F, Bosch M, Wubs ERJ, Haanstra L, Verbaan W, Van Houwelingen D, Philippona J, Van Ekeris R, Van der Putten WH, Bezemer TM. 2015. Afgraven, bodemtransplantaties en uitstrooien van maaisel op voormalige landbouwgronden: het Reijerscamp experiment. De Levende Natuur 116: 222-227.
Media attention
TV and radio interviews and documentaries
- Radio: NPO Radio 1 Vroege Vogels. Bodemtransplantaties helpen heideherstel. 20-08-2017
- Radio: BNR Wetenschap. Bodembeestjestransplantatie herstelt de natuur. 3-7-2016.
- TV: SAT3/nano (ZDF, Germany), theme episode about soil life. 03-09-2014.
Articles in Popular Press: NRC Handelsblad, NRC Next, Der Tagesspiegel, Scientist, The Scientist, Popular Science, Der Standard, Neue Züricher Zeitung, Potsdamer Neueste Nachrichten.
Contact
+31 (0)317 473 400
Droevendaalsesteeg 10
6708 PB Wageningen
+31 (0)317 47 34 00
Postbus 50
6700 AB Wageningen
