Harry Olde Venterink

Harry studied Biology and Environmental Sciences and also obtained his PhD at Utrecht University. He had postdoc positions as a plant ecologist and/or biogeochemist in Utrecht, Delft, Groningen and Lund, and was a senior scientist at ETH Zurich where he did his habilitation. He is teaching courses on the biology and ecology of plants, fungi and terrestrial ecosystems, and is leading a research team on functional ecology of plants and ecosystems. He focuses on fundamental ecological research, combining an experimental approach with field sampling in e.g. European grasslands and wetlands, African savanna and the Brazilian Cerrado. Two major research lines of his research group are: 
i. Plant species diversity, loss and invasion - with a focus on plant traits and N:P stoichiometry
ii. Plant-herbivore interactions - with a focus on dung quality (C:N:P stoichiometry)

Harry participated in the following international scientific networks:

The Nutrient network ‘NutNet’

The EU Biodiversa+ project ‘DiviN_P’

‘Zoogeochemistry’ - Alchemists of the wild

The international Joint Research Team ‘FECC’

Selected publications

Scheifes, Daniil J.P., M. te Beest, H. Olde Venterink, A. Janssen, D.T.P. Kinsbergen, M.J. Wassen (2024). The plant root economics space in relation to nutrient limitation in Eurasian herbaceous plant communities. Ecology Letters 27: e.14402. 

Price, J., J. Sitters, T. Ohlert, P. Tognetti, C.S. Brown, E.W. Seabloom, E.T. Borer, S. Prober, E.S. Bakker, A.S. MacDougall, L. Yahdjian, D.S. Gruner, H. Olde Venterink, I.C. Barrio, P. Graff, S. Bagchi, C.A. Arnillas, J.D. Bakker, D.M. Blumenthal, E.H. Boughton, L.A. Brudvig, M.N. Bugalho, M.W. Cadotte, M.C. Caldeira, C.R. Dickman, I. Donohue, S. Grégory, Y. Hautier, I.S. Jónsdóttir, L.S. Lannes, R.L. McCulley, J.L. Moore, S.A. Power, A.C. Risch, M. Schütz, R. Standish, C.J. Stevens, G.F. Veen, R. Virtanen, G.M. Wardle (2022). Evolutionary history of grazing and resources determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant diversity. Nature Ecology and Evolution 6: 1290–1298. 

Sitters, J., H. Olde Venterink (2021). Herbivore dung stoichiometry drives competition between savanna trees and grasses. Journal of Ecology 109: 2095-2106. 

Sitters, J., Kimuyu, T. Young, P. Claeys & H. Olde Venterink (2020). Negative effects of cattle on soil carbon and nutrient pools reversed by megaherbivores. Nature Sustainability 3: 360-366. 

Fujita, Y., H. Olde Venterink, P.M. van Bodegom, J.C. Douma, G.W. Heil, N. Hölzel, E. Jabłońska, W. Kotowski, T. Okruszko, P. Pawlikowski, P.C. de Ruiter & M.J. Wassen (2014). Low investment in sexual reproduction threatens plants adapted to phosphorus limitation. Nature 505: 82-86.