"I think, therefore I am"
Graduated from Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
Thesis on “Isotopic studies of the transformation of amino acids and nucleic bases in soil” for the degree of Candidate of Biological Sciences was defended at Moscow Agricultural Academy (now - Russian State Agrarian University - MAA named after K. A. Timiryazev).
Head of the Radioisotope Laboratory of Moscow Agricultural Academy (now - Russian State Agrarian University - MAA named after K. A. Timiryazev).
Researcher, Humboldt University of Berlin, Berlin.
Researcher, University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart.
Thesis on “Turnover of Low-Molecular Organic Substances in Soil - Tracer Studies and Theory” for the degree of Doctor of Science at the University of Hohenheim was defended.
Heisenberg Fellowship (DFG), University of Hohenheim, Stuttgart.
Director of the Department of Landscape Biogeochemistry at the Leibniz Center for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF Müncheberg).
Professor of the Department of Landscape Biogeochemistry at the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg.
Professor, Head of the Department of Agroecosystems Research, University of Bayreuth.
Professor at the University of Göttingen, Head of the Departments: Soil Science of temperate zones; Agricultural Soil Science.
Leading researcher of the Smart Technologies Laboratory for Sustainable Urban Development in the context of global changes, Agrarian and Technological Institute RUDN University.
Teaching
- 1993-2016 more than 30 international zonal practices in soil geography, agroecology and land use in Russia, Portugal, Italy, more than 1200 students.
- 2002-2019 12 international courses in Germany, China, Chile, Poland, more than 1000 students.
- 2019-present time gives lectures to postgraduate students in the following disciplines:
- Green Infrastructure and Sustainable Development;
- Plant Protection: plant protection systemic technology.
Science
- Highly cited world researcher in Agricultural Sciences in 2015-2019.
- Entered the list of the most highly cited scientists in Russia in 2017.
- The H-index is 67 according to the Scopus database.
- Author of more than 540 publications indexed by the Web of Science database, including:
- 5 articles in Nature series journals,
- 35 scientific reviews,
- more than 25 highly cited papers (top 1 % of citations),
- 9 “hot papers” (top 0.1 % of citations)
Developed concepts and theories of priming effects, microbial hotspots and hot moments in the soil, transformation of low-molecular organic substances in the soil, root secretions and their localization, visualization of enzyme activity in the soil, pedogenic carbonates, agropedogenesis, biochar, microbial metabolism, and many others. These studies are carried out depending on the factors of global changes: warming, increased CO2 content in the atmosphere, as well as drought, soil degradation. Pioneering and innovative work was done with the use of specific isotope labeling, plant labeling in the atmosphere of 14CO2 and 13CO2 with the joint use of autoradiography and zymography, as well as isotopes with biomarkers.
Scientific interests
Specialist in soil ecology and biogeochemistry, rhizosphere, agriculture, land use and soil degradation, agroecology, carbon and nitrogen cycling, and the use of radioactive and stable isotopes, etc. His research team conducts research in all climatic zones from cold deserts to the tropics and in different types of ecosystems (agricultural, forest, mountain, pasture, etc.) within multiple scientific projects in Germany, Russia, China, Chile, Italy, Indonesia and cooperation in the United States, Great Britain and Australia.