Christina Kaiser
Christina Kaiser investigated the mechanisms behind the Rhizosphere Priming Effect, i.e. the effect of the release of labile carbon and nitrogen by plant roots on microbial decomposition of soil organic matter. She developed a model which links carbon and nitrogen input by plants to microbial community composition and function in a spatially structured soil environment, and analyses how cooperation between microbial functional groups may lead to their coexistence and the emerging of the priming effect.
Kaiser received her PhD in Ecology (2010) from the University of Vienna.
More information
Funding: Evolution and Ecology Program, IIASA
Nationality: Austrian
Program: Ecosystems Services and Management and Evolution and Ecology Programs
Dates: December 2011 – present
PUBLICATIONS
Terrer C, Jackson RB, Prentice IC, Keenan TF, Kaiser C, Vicca S, Fisher JB, Reich P B, et al. (2019). Nitrogen and phosphorus constrain the CO2 fertilization of global plant biomass. Nature Climate Change 9 (9) DOI:10.1038/s41558-019-0545-2.
Walker T, Kaiser C, Strasser F, Herbold C, Leblans N, Woebken D, Janssens I, Sigurdsson B, et al. (2018). Microbial temperature sensitivity and biomass change explain soil carbon loss with warming. Nature Climate Change 8 (9): 885-889. DOI:10.1038/s41558-018-0259-x.
Evans S, Dieckmann U , Franklin O , & Kaiser C (2016). Synergistic effects of diffusion and microbial physiology reproduce the Birch effect in a micro-scale model. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 93: 28-37. DOI:10.1016/j.soilbio.2015.10.020.