Univ.-Prof. Dr. Andreas Richter

 

 

   

 

 

Head of the Centre for Microbiology and Environmental Systems Science
Head of the Division of Terrestrial Ecosystem Research

☎ +43 1 4277 91260

✉ andreas.richter@univie.ac.at 

Microbial communities are key components of all global biogeochemical cycles and play a central yet poorly understood role in climate change biology. Andreas Richter’s group investigates how growth and turnover of microbial communities control the deconstruction and mineralisation of organic matter in terrestrial ecosystems in current and future climates. The group has redefined and expanded the concept of microbial carbon and nitrogen use efficiency, linking it to ecological stoichiometry theory.

Andreas also pioneered the development of methods to estimate microbial growth and carbon use efficiency based on stable oxygen isotopes. Andreas’ research group has extensively worked on soil organic matter storage in arctic ecosystems and permafrost-climate feedback, as well as in deep soils from the tropics to arctic. They also explore the interactive effects of future climate conditions and climate extremes on microbial processes, community composition, and plant-microbe interactions.

Research Topics

  • Carbon use efficiency, growth and turnover of microbial communities
  • Arctic soil carbon storage and the permafrost-climate feedback
  • Microbial communities, SOM composition and the breakdown of organic matter
  • Ecological stoichiometry and nitrogen and phosphorus cycling
  • Effect of climate change and elevated CO2 on soil processes

Join the Team

If you are interested in joining our team, explore our open positions and learn more about available PhD and postdoc stipends here.

Teaching

To explore Andreas' teaching activities at the University of Vienna, visit u:find.

Research Projects

Arctic peatlands are dynamic, fluctuating environments exposed to frequent temperature changes within as well as between seasons. The effect of...

In the past decades, increasing industrial and military use of Tungsten (W)-based products opened new pathways of W into natural systems and raise the...

CryoCarb is an international project that includes seven research groups from Europe and Russia. Our main goal is to (i) advance organic carbon...

Collaboration with other international projects

Group Members


 Publications

Canarini, A., Fuchslueger, L., Joly, F-X., & Richter, A. (2023). Climate change impacts on soil biology. In Encyclopedia of Soils in the Environment (Second Edition) (Vol. 1, pp. 578-586). Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-822974-3.00244-5

Ferrin, M., Peñuelas, J., Gargallo-Garriga, A., Iribar, A., Janssens, I., Marañón-Jiménez, S., Murienne, J., Richter, A., Sigurdsson, B. D., & Peguero, G. (2023). Responses of soil hexapod communities to warming are mediated by microbial carbon and nitrogen in a subarctic grassland. European Journal of Soil Biology, 117, [103513]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejsobi.2023.103513

Dahl, M. B., Söllinger, A., Sigurdsson, P., Janssens, I., Peñuelas, J., Sigurdsson, B. D., Richter, A., Tveit, A., & Urich, T. (2023). Long-term warming-induced trophic downgrading in the soil microbial food web. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 181, [109044]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.soilbio.2023.109044