Marijn Bauters is an ERC Starting grant fellow of FWO at Ghent University and focusses on the nexus between biogeochemistry and ecology in tropical forest ecosystems. M. Bauters is combining ecology in tropical ecosystems with biogeochemical monitoring. The cross-over between both fields, applied in a region where not much research has been conducted, has allowed him to pioneer in mapping nutrient cycles in the tropical forests of the Congo basin. While his PhD was much more fundamental (nutrient cycling in pristine forests), he now strongly focuses on biogeochemical drivers for secondary forest recovery rates in the Congo basin. Doing so, M. Bauters has logged substantial ‘field time’ in the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, Ecuador and French Guiana. This allowed him to develop a good sense of what research is needed to advance our understanding of these ecosystems, in order to relieve pressure of the socio-ecological nexus incentral Africa. M. Bauters is co-founder of the Congo Biogeochemistry Observatory – an international consortium focusing on ecosystem studies in the basin and board member and scientific advisor of the recently implemented CongoFlux project . Marijn is leading our Reforestation and Forest Health Monitoring Workshop IV.

Email : marijn.bauters@ugent.be