Marcel G. A. van der Heijden
Runs large field trials comparing organic, conventional, and conservation systems and demonstrated at scale that mycorrhizal inoculation can raise yields when soil biology predicts responsiveness.
The record
- Standing
- active practice
- Based
- Agroscope; University of Zurich · Switzerland
- Focus area
- Organic Systems
- Works on
- arbuscular mycorrhizal inoculation, farming systems trials, soil biodiversity and ecosystem function, reduced tillage, microbiome indicators.
Standing is this studio’s placement of the work, not a ranking of the person, and it is the one line here that is a judgement rather than a cited fact.
The work
Soil ecologist leading the Plant-Soil Interactions group at Agroscope (Zurich), professor at the University of Zurich, and honorary professor at Utrecht University. Runs the Swiss Farming System and Tillage (FAST) experiment. His 2023 Nature Microbiology study across 800 plots on 54 maize farms showed AMF inoculation boosted yields up to 40% on a quarter of fields, and that soil microbiome indicators predicted where it works. Author of foundational 1998 Nature work linking mycorrhizal diversity to plant diversity and productivity.
Where to read them
- Marcel G. A. van der Heijden — lab or personal site
- Agroscope — the organisation
- van der Heijden et al. (1998) Mycorrhizal fungal diversity determines plant biodiversity, Nature
- Lutz et al. (2023) soil microbiome indicators predict crop response to AMF inoculation, Nature Microbiology
- FAST experiment
Sources for this record
Corrections
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