Kuzyakov Yakov Viktorovich

Professor Kuzyakov occupies an exceptional position in soil studies and agricultural sciences. The researcher has presented, substantiated and developed a wide range of research directions, theoretical concepts and methods that have provided new fundamental outlooks and strategic tendencies in soil science, recognised and used by many groups all over the world. The main topics of his research were the processes and functions of soil, the interactions of soils, plants and microorganisms in natural and agricultural ecosystems in the context of global change.

Professor Kuzyakov was one of the first to use isotopes and biomarkers to research the factors, processes and consequences of soil degradation, the cycling of carbon and nutrients, the impact of the increasing CO₂ level and temperature on the microbial transformation of organic matter, metabolic pathways in microorganisms, greenhouse gas emissions and sequestrations. These processes have been analysed from the submolecular up to the ecosystem and water-collecting levels and linked to environmental applications.