Lejoly Group
Lejoly Group
Terrestrial EcologyGroup members
Senior Research Group:
Veen Group
Soils are complex environments where climate, vegetation, and soil organisms interact to regulate nutrient cycling and soil organic matter decomposition. Protecting soil biodiversity and soil carbon is key to ensure ecosystem resilience in a changing world. In the Lejoly group, we work at the intersection between soil ecology and biogeochemistry. Our overarching goal is to shed light on the role of the soil biota in ecosystem functioning, with a focus on carbon cycling. We use a combination of manipulative controlled experiments to gain a mechanistic understanding and large-scale sampling approaches to identify prevailing patterns, both in natural ecosystems and agrosystems.
Our current projects include:
1. Belowground zoogeochemistry: the role of soil fauna in driving soil carbon and nutrient cycling (funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship)
2. The influence of farming practices on soil biota and carbon storage (part of the NWO-funded project Soil biodiversity analysis for sustainable production systems, SoilProS).
3. Linking soil biodiversity to ecosystem services across land use types and management intensities (part of the EU-funded project Soil biodiversity for ecosystem services, SOB4ES).
