Stefan Scheu How Do Belowground Components Contribute to the Healthy Functioning of Ecological Systems?
Stefan Scheu is Professor of Animal Ecology at the University of Göttingen where he sits on the Executive Board of the Centre for Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use. Previously Professor for Zoology and Ecology and Dean of the Faculty of Biology at Darmstadt University of Technology, Scheu’s research interests include the structure of soil animal food webs and parthenogenesis vs. sexuality in soil animal species. Formerly editor-in-chief of Pedobiologia, Scheu is an editorial board member of several scholarly journals including Frontiers in Zoology and the Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science.
Area of Research
Quantitative Analysis of Decomposer Communities, Decomposition Processes, Soil Animal – Soil Microbial Interactions, Rhizosphere Ecology, Evolution of Sex and Parthenogenesis
since 2008
Professor (W3), Animal Ecology
University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (more details)
1997-2008
Professor (C3), Zoology and Animal Ecology
Technische Universität Darmstadt
1993-1997
Lecturer (Wissenschaftlicher Assistant)
University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (more details)
1992-1993
PostDoc
University of Calgary
1989-1992
1995
Habilitation
University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (more details)
Animal Ecology Working Group
1986-1989
Dissertation at the University of Göttingen (summa cum laude)
University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (more details)
1985-1986
Diploma Thesis in Animal ecology (with Distinction)
University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (more details)
1979-1986
Study of Biology
University of Tübingen (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen)
& Göttingen
- Editorial Board of Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science (since 2016)
- Editorial Board of Pedobiologia (since 2014)
- Editorial Board of Food Webs (since 2014)
- Editorial Board of Frontiers in Zoology (since 2007)
- Editorial Board of Basic and Applied Ecology (since 1999)
- Editorial Board of Oecologia (since 1998)
- Editor-in-Chief of Pedobiologia (1998-2013)
- Subject Editor of Soil Biology and Biochemistry (1997-2010)
- Member of the Executive Committee of the Center of Biodiversity and Sustainable Land Use of the University of Göttingen (since 2016)
- German Society for General and Applied Entomology (DGaaE) (since 1998)
- German Zoology Society (DZG) (since 1995)
- Ecological Society of America (ESA) (since 1992)
- German Society of Soil Science (DBG) (since 1990)
- Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland (GfÖ) (1989)
- Member of the Committee of Experts in Zoology (Fachkolleg Zoologie) of the German Research Council (DFG) (2012-2016)
- Member of the Committee of Experts in Zoology (Fachkolleg Zoologie) of the German Research Council (DFG) (2004-2008)
- Speaker of the Collaborative Research Center 990 of the German Research Foundation (DFG) (since 2012)
© Universität Göttingen/Frank Stefan Kimmel
University of Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen)
Göttingen, GermanyFounded in 1737, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen is a research university of international renown with strong focuses in research-led teaching. The University is distinguished by the rich diversity of its subject spectrum particularly in the humanities, its excellent facilities for the pursuit of scientific research, and the outstanding quality of the areas that define its profile. From 2007 to 2012 Georg-August-Universität Göttingen was rewarded funding from the Initiative of Excellence of the German Federal and State Governments with its institutional strategy for the future entitled “Göttingen.Tradition – Innovation – Autonomy”. The University was able to realise all measures of the concept. Now Göttingen University develops the successfully established measures further to continously advance the University’s positive developments in research and teaching. (Source)
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Being easier to observe, the aboveground components of ecological systems tend to be considered of predominant importance. In this video, STEFAN SCHEU explains the extent to which the healthy functioning of these systems is dependent on what happens underground. With visual observation impossible, Scheu employs isotope labeling to trace the paths taken by particular elements belowground. Where it was heretofore understood that aboveground litter material provided a major source of food for belowground organisms, Scheu’s study shows that the great majority of carbon enters the underground system via plant roots. With undoubted relevance for agricultural productivity and conservation, Scheu’s research draws attention to the vital ecological contribution of phenomena that occur out of human sight.
LT Video Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.21036/LTPUB10744
Root-derived Carbon and Nitrogen from Beech and Ash Trees Differentially Fuel Soil Animal Food Webs of Deciduous Forests
- Sarah L. Zieger, Silke Ammerschubert, Andrea Polle and Stefan Scheu
- PloS one
- Published in 2017
Roots Rather than Shoot Residues Drive Soil Arthropod Communities of Arable Fields
- Nicole Scheunemann, Christoph Digel, Stefan Scheu and Olaf Butenschoen
- Oecologia
- Published in 2015
The Underestimated Importance of Belowground Carbon Input for Forest Soil Animal Food Webs
- Melanie M. Pollierer, Reinhard Langel, Christian Körner, Mark Maraun and Stefan Scheu
- Ecology Letters
- Published in 2007
Incorporation of Plant Carbon into the Soil Animal Food Web of an Arable System
- Derk Albers, Matthias Schaefer and Stefan Scheu
- Ecology
- Published in 2006
