Kathrin Rousk
  • Universitetsparken 15, Bygning 1

    2100 København Ø

  • Source: Scopus
20122024

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Primary fields of research

In the K Rousk lab (Ecosystem Ecology), we are interested in the abiotic and biotic controls of nitrogen (N) fixation in moss-cyanobacteria associations. This ecosystem function is especially important in pristine ecosystems like boreal forests and subarctic tundra. Cyanobacteria colonzing dominant moss species in these habitats contribute fundamentally to the ecosystem N pool. My research goal is to identify the factors that promote and inhibit N fixation in mosses, and to define the relationship between moss and colonizing cyanobacteria.

I am very honoured, humbled and happy to have been awarded an ERC Starting Grant (2021-2026), SYMBIONIX, to unravel the relationship mosses and colonizing cyanobacteria share and to venture into understudied ecosystems. For updates, check out my twitter feed @kathrin_rousk

CV

ORCID                                     0000-0003-3140-9864

CONTACT                               +46 70 5290367; [email protected]

EDUCATION

2013 (April 1st)              PhD in Forest Ecology, Bangor University, UK

2009 (April 1st)             Master of Science, Ecology, Marburg University, Germany

RESEARCH FIELDS  

Ecology, nitrogen fixation, cyanobacteria, mosses, symbioses, biogeochemistry, ecosystem ecology

POSITIONS

2023 ­–  Associate Professor 

Terrestrial Ecology Section, Dept. of Biology, Univ. of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark (UCPH)

2019 – 2022      Tenure-Track Assistant Professor

Terrestrial Ecology Section, Dept. of Biology, Univ. of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark (UCPH)

2016 – 2019       Assistant Professor 

Terrestrial Ecology Section, Dept. of Biology, UCPH

02.2016 – 08.2016         Postdoctoral researcher

Center for Permafrost (CENPERM), Dept. of Geosciences and Natural Resources, UCPH

01.2014 – 01.2016          Postdoctoral researcher

Terrestrial Ecology Section, Dept. of Biology, UCPH. 

06.2013 – 12.2013          Postdoctoral researcher

Microbial Ecology, Dept. of Biology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden. 

12.2009 – 12.2012          PhD researcher

SUPERVISION AND TEACHING 

Formal training: Pedagogic Course for University Teachers (“Universitetspædagogikum”), UCPH, 2015–2016. Supervision of PhD students, UCPH, 2018. Leading Research – A leadership course, UCPH, 2019.

Supervised >10 BSc students, 8 MSc students, 2 PhD students, 3 postdocs since 2018

Current teaching: BSc course Plant Ecophysiology (course responsible); MSc courses Advanced Ecology (course responsible) Terrestrial Ecosystem Processes and Global Change;  Climate Change and Biogeochemical Cycles; Climate Change – an Interdisciplinary Challenge. 

COMMISSION OF TRUST - ACADEMIC SERVICE

Reviewer for > 25 academic journals such as PNAS, New Phytologist, ISME

Consulting Editor for Plant and Soil (2019 – 2024). 

Editorial Board Member for European Journal of Soil Biology (2021 – ).

Editorial advisory board member for Global Change Biology (2023 – ). 

Guest editor for special issue “Microbial nitrogen processes in aquatic and terrestrial environments” in Trends in Microbiology and iScience (2024).

Grant Reviewer: The National Science Foundation (NSF), USA; Geoverbund ABC/J, Germany; Canadian Research Council, Canada; US Army; Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany. ERC-Starting Grants.

Examination board: PhD theses: D. Warshan. Supervisor: U. Rasmussen, Stockholm University, Sweden, Oct. 2017; W. Sawangproh, Supervisor: N. Cronberg, Lund University, Sweden, May 2019; A. Neubauer, Supervisor: Peter Szövenyi, University of Zürich, Switzerland, December 2023. S. Li, Supervisor: Linda-Maria D. Mårtensson, SLU, Sweden, Nov. 2024

Member of the Strategic Research Board, Dept. of Biology, UCPH, 2020 – 2023

Member of the Research Board, Dept. of Biology, UCPH, 2023 – 

Member of the Ecology Cluster Steering Committee, Dept. of Biology, UCPH, 2023 –

Appointment committee PhD fellowships Dept. of Biology, UCPH, 2020.

Selected for the program "UCPH-Forward" - a talent program for excellence (2023-2024). 

Keywords

  • Faculty of Science
  • Nitrogen fixation
  • Cyanobacteria
  • Ecology
  • Biogeochemistry
  • Global change
  • Bryophytes
  • Nitrogen limited ecosystems
  • Nitrogen cycling
  • Symbiosis

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

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