Research Expertise and Interests

My research interests are in the field of environmental and biological sciences, especially the analysis of structure and stability in complex communities (food webs), and the relationship between biological diversity, ecosystem functioning and environmental quality. Most of my studies have been applied to soil ecosystems. Soils are in particular interesting, as (i) soils contain extremely diverse, complex and dynamic communities, that (ii) govern soil processes such as the decomposition of organic matter, carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling that form major components of the global cycling of materials, energy and nutrients. Key in my approach is the linking of empirical information (mostly from field surveys) to mathematical models. This approach enables to derive ecosystem functioning, e.g. in terms of carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling, from the observed soil food web structures. The analyses show that the relationship between food web structure and soil ecosystem function is mutual in fundamental ways. Soil food webs govern ecosystems processes, while processes shape the structure and stability of the food webs. Along with analysing food webs and ecosystem processes in soils I became interested in the occurrence of  ecological ‘tipping points’ and ‘sudden shifts’ in terrestrial ecosystems. These concepts have been developed for aquatic systems, but we found that they also occur during degradation and desertification in arid ecosystems. The occurrence of such shifts seems to be related to soil ecological processes that determine the water and nutrient uptake of the plants. Prevention of such shifts has a great value for securing food productivity in large areas worldwide.

The concepts we proposed to better understand the interrelationship between soil ecosystem processes and the structure and stability of biological communities, i.e. ‘trophic-level dependent interaction strengths’ and ‘weak links in long loops, and ‘local facilitation on small scales versus competition on larger scales’  has been published in high quality scientific journals and are well-received in the international literature.

List of top 10 publications (Oct 2017):

1. Neutel, A.M., Heesterbeek , J.A.P., de Ruiter, P.C. (2002) Stability in real food webs, weak links in long loops. Science 296, 1120-1123. 
2. De Deyn, G.B., Raaijmakers, C.E., Zoomer, H.R., Berg, M.P., de Ruiter, P.C., Verhoef, H.A., Bezemer, T.M., van der Putten, W.H. (2003) Soil invertebrate fauna enhances grassland succession and diversity. Nature 422, 711-713.
3. Rietkerk, M.,  Dekker, S.C., de Ruiter, P.C., van de Koppel, J. (2004). Self-organised Patchiness and Catastrophic Shifts in Ecosystems. Science 305, 1926-1929.
4. Hessen, D.O., Agren, G.I., Anderson, T.R., Elser, J.J., De Ruiter, P.C. (2004) Carbon sequestration in ecosystems, the role of stoichiometry. Ecology  85 , 1179-1192.
5. De Ruiter, P.C., Wolters, V., Moore, J.C., Winemiller, K.O. (2005) Food Web Ecology, Playing Jenga and Beyond. Science 309, 68.
6. Kéfi, S., Rietkerk, M., Alados, C.L., Pueyo, Y., Papanastasis, V.P., ElAich, A., de Ruiter, P.C. (2007) Spatial vegetation patterns and imminent desertification in Mediterranean arid ecosystems. Nature 449, 213-217.
7. Neutel, A.M., Heesterbeek, J.A.P, van de Koppel, J., Hoenderboom, G., Vos, A., Kaldeway, C., Berendse, F., de Ruiter, P.C. (2007) Reconciling complexity with stability in naturally assembling food webs. Nature 449, 599-602.
8. Eppinga, M.B., de Ruiter, P.C., Wassen, M.J., Rietkerk, M. (2009). Nutrients and hydrology indicate the driving mechanisms of peatland surface patterning. American Naturalist 173: 803-18
9. Kefi, S., Rietkerk, M., Roy, M.,  Franc, A., de Ruiter, P.C., Pascual, M. (2010). Robust scaling in ecosystems and the meltdown of patch size distributions before extinction. Ecology Letters 14(1):29-35.
10. Fujita, Y. Olde Venterink, H., van Bodegom, P.M., Douma, J.C., Heil, G.W., Hölzel, N., Jabłońska, E., Kotowski, W., Okruszko,T., Pawlikowski, P., de Ruiter, P.C., Wassen, M.J. (2013) Low investment in sexual production threatens plants adapted to phosphorus limitation. Nature, doi:10.1038/nature12733.

(complete publication list is included in CV)

Books:

Dynamic Food Webs

Multispecies assemblages, ecosystem development, and environmental change.

Editors: Peter C. de Ruiter, Volkmar Wolters, John C. Moore

Academic Press 2005; 590 pages.

Energetic Food Webs

An Analysis of Real and Model Ecosystems

Authors: John C. Moore, Peter C. de Ruiter

Oxford University Press 2012; 350 pages.

Adaptive Food Webs

Stability and Transition in Real and Model Ecosystems

Editors: John C. Moore, Peter C. de Ruiter, Kevin McCann, Volkmar Wolters

Cambridge University Press 2017; 380 pages.

Promotor PhD-students (latest update Oct 2017)

1. M. Vreeken-Buijs. Ecology of microarthropods in arable soil (Wageningen UR 1998, co-promotor)
2. O. van Dam. Forest filled with gaps (Utrecht University 1998, 2^nd promotor)
3. M. Bootsma. Stress and recovery in wetland ecosystems (Utrecht University, 2000)
4. H. Olde Venterink. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium flows controlling plant productivity and species richness (Utrecht University 2000)
5. A.M. Neutel. Stability of Complex Food Webs, Pyramids of Biomass, Interaction Strengths and the Weight of Trophic Loops (Utrecht University 2001)
6. G. de Deyn. Soil fauna and plant community interactions in relation to secondary succession and diversity (Utrecht University 2004)
7. M.A. Tobor Kaplon. Soil life under stress (Utrecht University 2006)
8. Mw. M. Schouten. Patterns in Biodiversity; Spatial organisation of biodiversity in the Netherlands
9. S. Kefi. Reading the signs (Utrecht University 2008)
10. C. van der Brink. Land use and groundwater quality. How technical instrumentation can support groundwater planning (Utrecht University 2009)
11. M. Eppinga. aMazing pattern: spatial self-organization in peatlands (Utrecht University 2009, 2^nd promotor)
12. Remko Holtkamp. Soils in transition, patterns and processes in soil ecosystems during the restoration of natural ecosystems on former agricultural land (Utrecht University 2010)
13. Yuki Fujita. An integrated hydro-ecological model for fen conservation (Utrecht University 2010, 2^nd promotor)
14. Monique Gulickx. The landscape at your service; spatial analysis of landscape services for sustainable development. WU, October 3, 2013)
15. Roland E. van der Vliet. Closing in on meadow birds; coping with a changing landscape in the Netherlands (Utrecht University, November 27, 2013, 2^nd promotor)
16. Phuong Ngoc Truong. Expert knowledge in geostistical inference and prediction (Wageningen University, June 30, 2014)
17. Cassandra van Altena. Searching for Balance; Stability and equilibria of food webs (Wageningen University, May 17^th 2016)
18. Jeroen van Leeuwen. The Soil Life Cycle; Food webs and ecosystem services during soil transformations (Wageningen University, Jan 8^th, 2016)
19. Fernando R. da Silva. Small is Superior; Plant-provided prey refuges, predator prey dynamics and biological control (University of Amsterdam, June 6^th, 2016).
20. Sanja Selakovic. Infection in ecosystems: Data, Models and Effects (Utrecht University July 5^th 2016).
21. Karen A. M. Cárdenas. What lies beneath? Linking litter and canopy food webs to protect ornamental crops (University of Amsterdam, June 21^st 2017)

Contribution to the early career of  excellent researchers

Three of my former PhD-students have obtained permanent position at universities or research institutions on the basis of the excellent work they did in the context of their PhD research.

1. Dr. Anje-Margriet Neutel has two Science and one Nature paper on the basis of her PhD research. She is now staff member at the British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge, UK
2. Dr. Gerlinde de Deyn has one Nature paper on the basis of her PhD research. She was guest scientist at the University of Lancaster(UK). She now has a tenure position at Wageningen University (NL)
3. Dr. Sonia Kefi has one Nature paper  on the basis of her PhD research. She worked at the University of Darmstadt (Germany) on a Rubicon project. She has a tenure position at the University of Montpellier (France).