☎ +43 1 4277 91262
✉ wolfgang.wanek(at)univie.ac.at
» CV
» u:cris
» u:find
Wolfgang Wanek’s group focuses on the linkage between plant and microbial functioning and terrestrial ecosystem processes. Wanek has long-standing expertise in applying stable isotopes to unravel the role of plants and soil microbes and their interaction in controlling ecosystem processes, from the local to the continental scale.
Research in Wolfgang’s group centres on the biogeochemistry of grasslands and forests in tropical and temperate biomes, with a focus on carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus (sulfur) cycling in the soil-plant-microbe system. Applying ecophysiological, metabolomics and isotope methods, as well as physicochemical characterization of the respective environments, his group seeks to understand biological and abiotic controls, how ecosystems respond to current and future global change, and how this feeds back on the functioning of ecosystems. His group has pioneered the development of an array of stable isotope-based methods to enable the quantification of gross element cycling processes that previously could not be measured.
Climate changes and elevated CO2 have major impacts on biogeochemical cycles, which may in turn feed back on the climate system. ClimGrass-C is a new…
The Amazon rainforest stores large amounts of carbon in plant biomass and in soils, and is an important sink for atmospheric CO2 setting off increased…
Priming effects of moss leachates on soil organic matter dynamics
Zhou J, Liu S, van Groenigen KJ, Mueller C, Ochoa-Hueso R, Fanin N et al. Contrasting responses of particulate and mineral-associated organic carbon stocks to grazing exclusion in an alpine meadow. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 2026 Jun 10;400. doi: 10.1016/j.agee.2026.110227
Liu M, Xu X, Jin P, Bruelheide H, Kuzyakov Y, Bardgett RD et al. Advancing predictive understanding of tree organic and inorganic nitrogen uptake across forest biomes. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 2026 Feb;213:110027. doi: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.110027
Nottingham AT, Karhu K, Salinas N, Schnecker J, Sietiö OM, Martin-Vivanco AK et al. Microbial death in the Andes: necromass declines despite growth and carbon-use-efficiency increases with decadal soil warming. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 2026 Feb;213:110002. doi: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.110002
Yao R, Fu H, Liu X, Liu F, Wanek W, Liang G et al. Meta-analysis of the accumulation and stabilisation of particulate and mineral-associated organic carbon by fertilization. Soil and Tillage Research. 2026 Jan;255:106770. doi: 10.1016/j.still.2025.106770
Liu X, Tang S, Tou C, Chen J, Wanek W, Kuzyakov Y et al. Opposite roles of plant quality and soil exoenzymes in regulation of litter carbon transfer to fungal and bacterial necromass. Soil Biology and Biochemistry. 2025 Nov;210:109940. doi: 10.1016/j.soilbio.2025.109940
Wolfgang Wanek is part of the FWF-funded Cluster of Excellence (CoE)
