Ciska Veen, senior researcher at the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW)
Background. Ciska Veen is a soil ecologist studying how soil biodiversity drives ecosystem functioning. Soil biodiversity is at the basis of all life on earth. Understanding the functions performed by soil organisms is essential to sustainable use of soils. In her current research she studies how soil biodiversity drives soil nutrient and carbon cycling and how we can steer soil communities for sustainable land-use and climate change mitigation. She works across a range of ecosystems from agricultural land, to natural grasslands and forests. Ciska integrates her understanding of soil communities and soil functioning into an above-belowground framework to consider how aboveground biota and management strategies impact on soil communities.
This project. Since 2020, Ciska got involved in the large-scale forest experiment to complement the ongoing work with a soil ecological perspective. She leads the soil work in the project and aims to understand how forest management affects soil biodiversity and soil carbon storage in forest soils.
contact: c.veen@nioo.knaw.nl
Climate Smart Forestry 