Short characteristics of research area:

Microbial ecology of soil and groundwater associated bacteria is the main area of my research. I believe that microbial ecology in soil can only be described properly using combinations of molecular methods, biogeochemical techniques and classical microbiology. I have used significant amount of energy on quantification of nucleic acids directly extracted from soil, and I have worked with different methods to quantify mRNA directly in soil. These techniques are being applied in the projects that I’ve been able to raise funding for. My research has mainly been devoted to the microbial degradation of pesticides, PAH compounds and chlorinated compounds in various soils and groundwater aquifers. More recently the following fields was added: 1) the study of microbial communities in ice and permafrost samples from Greenland, 2) the study of survival and transport of pathogens from manure to freshwater, 3) the study of side effects of pesticides on agricultural ecosystems services and 4) effect on ash on soil exosystem services – in all cases exploring the same basic methodologies, i.e. DNA and mRNA based analyses of the microorganisms directly in environmental samples. This work is a part of larger collaborative projects, and I have often taken the initiative to these collaborative projects and served as centre leader.