SOIL ECOLOGY GROUP
We connect basic science with practice and create evidence-based management guidelines to help maintain and restore soil biodiversity.
We are interested in patterns of soil biodiversity and its variation in natural and human-influenced systems. Our special focus is on fungi, including mycorrhizal fungi, but also bacteria, greenhouse gases and agricultural land-use.
NEWS
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Exchange students Ellen and Jutta from the University of Namibia are visiting the Soil Ecology workgroup
In an exciting cultural exchange initiative, Jutta Endjala and Ellen Nako, two enthusiastic Erasmus+ students hailing from Namibia, have embarked on a transformative journey at Tartu University, Department of Botany. The dynamic duo will be immersing themselves in the rich academic environment of Tartu for an intensive two and a half months. With a keen […]
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Inga became an Associate Professor
Our working group member Inga Hiiesalu was recently elected an Associate Professor of Molecular Plant Ecology! Inga’s main research interests include environmental DNA and species richness patterns of plants and AM fungi in natural and agricultural ecosystems. In addition, Inga is involved in teaching, mainly by organizing seminars of the Department of Botany and supervising […]
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Czech-Estonian mobility grant
Soil ecology workgoup is happy that to have been granted a 3-year mobility project funded by the Estonian and Czech Academy of Science. The mobility project involves teams from the Institutute of Botany of the Czech Academy of Sciences (Dr. Jiri Dolezal’s and Dr. Jan Altman’s teams) and Department of Botany (Dr. Inga Hiiesalu) and […]
Soil Ecology
Who live in the soil? What is their role there? How do they interact with each other?
How do management and natural disturbances affect soil organisms?
These are questions that the Soil ecology workgroup at the University of Tartu is investigating.
Our special focus is on fungi, including mycorrhizal fungi, but also bacteria, greenhouse gases and agricultural land-use. We are interested in patterns of soil biodiversity and its variation in natural systems such as grasslands and forests, and in human-influenced systems such as arable fields and disturbed areas.
We connect basic science with practice and create evidence-based management guidelines to help maintain and restore soil biodiversity. The soil is alive and the soil biota within it is what keeps the soil, plants and entire ecosystems functioning.