معرفی
Marina Semtšenko is a Professor of Evolutionary Plant Ecology at the University of Tartu, Faculty of Science and Technology, Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences since September 2022. Previously, she served as Associate Professor of Plant Ecology at the same institution (2021-2022) and as a Lecturer at the University of Manchester (2019-2022). Her academic career spans over 15 years with various research positions at the University of Tartu, including Senior Research Fellow and Research Fellow in Plant Ecology.
Dr. Semtšenko holds a Doctor's Degree (2008) and Research Master's Degree (2005), both in plant ecology and ecophysiology from the University of Tartu. Her doctoral research focused on Plant root behaviour: responses to neighbours and physical obstructions, supervised by Kristjan Zobel and Michael J. Hutchings.
Her research focuses on plant ecology with special emphasis on plant-soil interactions, root ecology, and plant-microbial symbioses. She investigates how plant-soil feedbacks influence community assembly, biodiversity patterns, and ecosystem functioning across different environmental conditions. Her work integrates evolutionary perspectives with ecological processes, particularly examining how plant traits and microbial interactions shape plant performance and community dynamics.
Her extensive publication record in top journals like Nature, Science, New Phytologist, and Ecology Letters demonstrates consistent contributions to understanding plant-soil feedback mechanisms, root ecology, and the role of microbial interactions in plant communities. Her recent work explores how climate change, particularly drought, affects plant-soil interactions and how these interactions influence species coexistence and ecosystem productivity.
Dr. Semtšenko has received significant recognition including the prestigious Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship in 2020 and multiple national awards for scientific work in Estonia. She serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Ecology and reviews for numerous high-impact journals including Science, Nature Communications, and Ecology Letters.
Currently, she leads two major research projects: Agroecology and new crops in future climates (2024-2030, 700,000 EUR) funded by the Ministry of Education and Research, and Eco-evolutionary dynamics in plant-soil interactions during land use transition (2022-2027, nearly 2 million EUR) funded by the European Commission.
