01/10/2014 You’ll find as much biodiversity in the soil of New York’s Central Park as in a tropical rainforest. That’s the surprising conclusion of research conducted by Dr. Kelly Ramirez, microbial ecologist at NIOO-KNAW in Wageningen. In fact, the same soil microbes that thrive in forests, tundras and deserts can be found living right beneath New York.

16/04/2021 Kay Moisan has won the 2020 Hugo de Vries Award, for her PhD thesis on odours released by soil fungi and their effects on plants.

16/10/2020 Plant roots not only release odours themselves, but also appear to react to odours released by beneficial and harmful fungi in the soil. In her PhD research at NIOO, Kay Moisan found that this 'sense of smell' has a positive effect on the eventual health of the plant.

Sorghum is the fifth most important cereal in the world. In sub-Saharan Africa, many farmers rely on this grain for food and feed. But Striga, a parasitic weed, can have a devastating impact on crop yield. With an 8-million-dollar grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, an international team will now explore the potential of soil microbes to offer crop protection. The Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) is coordinating this 5-year project.

If you’re small, smells are a good way to stand out. A team of researchers led by the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) has demonstrated for the first time that two different types of micro-organisms – bacteria and fungi – use fragrances, known as terpenes, to hold conversations. And that’s not all. “We actually believe that terpenes are the most popular chemical medium on our planet to communicate through.”

Tiny predators in the soil can literally sniff out their prey: soil bacteria, which communicate with each other using scent. A team of researchers from the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) has discovered that these predators - called protists - 'eavesdrop' on the bacteria's communication. It's a discovery that opens up perspectives for agriculture. The results are available online this month in The ISME Journal, from the publishers of Nature.

Facilitating the search for new antibiotics: that's what Gilles van Wezel aims to do by looking at similarities in the DNA of antibiotic-producing bacteria.

Micro-organisms living inside plant roots team up to boost the plant’s growth and tolerance to stress. This research is featured this week in the scientific journal Science.

Clarivate Analytics has published its annual Web of Science list of highly cited researchers. Included for the fourth year running are NIOO researchers Jos Raaijmakers and Wim van der Putten.

A team of ecologists and microbiologists that includes NIOO's Paul Bodelier has identified a unique organism in samples from a Romanian cave nicknamed 'Stinky Mountain'. The novel bacteria can grow on methane, an important greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.