More than predation – the many roles of protists in agricultural soil

During her PhD studies, Julie Egelund Andersen researched protists in agricultural soils. Protists are microscopic organisms that perform a wide range of functions in soil, acting, for example, as predators, phototrophs, and parasites. Using field experiments and controlled interaction studies, Julie Egelund Andersen investigated how agricultural practices influence protist communities in soil and how predatory protists affect synthetic bacterial communities designed to promote crop health.

The new research findings contribute to our understanding of how protist communities are structured in agricultural soils, they further support the important role they play in regulating bacterial communities and offer new opportunities to incorporate protists into microbiome-based strategies for more sustainable agriculture. The work also argues that soil protists are more functionally diverse than previously recognized, specifically that mixotrophy may be far more widespread in soil ecosystems than previously assumed.

The PhD study was completed at the Department of Environmental Science, Faculty of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University.

This summary was prepared by the PhD student.

Time: Friday, 23 Oktober 2026 at 10:00
Place: Building 112, Lecture Theatre Niels Bohr auditorium, Risø Campus, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000 Roskilde
Title of PhD thesis: Protists Beyond Predation – Exploring functions Across Field and Synthetic Systems
Contact information: Julie Egelund Andersen, e-mail:  au730682@uni.au.dk, tel.: +45 22328730
Members of the assessment committee:
Professor Anders Priemé, Department of Biology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
Assistant Professor Stefan Geisen, Department of Biology, Wageningen University and Research, Denmark
Senior Researcher, Niels Bohse Hendriksen (chair), Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Denmark
Main supervisor: Professor Anne Winding, Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Denmark
Co-supervisor: Associate Professor Rumakanta Sapkota, Department of Environmental Science, Aarhus University, Denmark
Language: The PhD dissertation will be defended in English

The defence is public.
The PhD thesis is available for reading at the Graduate School of Technical Sciences/GSTS, Ny Munkegade 120, building 1521, 8000 Aarhus C.