Ass.-Prof. Dr. Marie Muehe
Contact
Ass.-Prof. Dr. E. Marie Muehe
Junior Group Leader
Helmholtz Young Investigator
marie.muehe@ufz.de / Phone +49 341 6025-1336
Working Team Plant Biogeochemistry
For more details see my personal webpage

Department of Applied Microbial Ecology
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
Permoserstr. 15, 04318 Leipzig, Germany
Research Interests
Soils and sediments are increasingly burdened by contaminants and changes in climate. Both of these interlink as climatic conditions affect the availability of contaminants to biota in the environment. My research focuses on biogeochemical processes in the rhizospheres of crops, phytoremediating plants and permafrost plant communities when stressed with metallic soil contaminants and a shifting climate. I investigate biogeochemical changes that occur at the micrometer scale in the rhizospere to explain macroscopic outcomes of plant productivity, product quality, and climate feedback. My goal is to contribute to advancing sustainable agriculture, which is key to the global challenge of food security.
If you are interested in working in my team, don't hesitate to contact me. If you would like to do a master/bachelor thesis or a lab internship, I have plenty of great ideas and am open to discussing yours.
Scientific Career
01/2024 present
Deputy head of department Applied Microbial Ecology - Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
01/2022 present
Assistant Professor for Plant Biogeochemistry (W1) - Geoscience Department, University of Tuebingen, Germany
05/2020 present
Junior Group Leader - Plant Biogeochemistry group, Helmholtz Young Investigator, Department of Applied Microbial Ecology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ, Leipzig, Germany
05/2018 present
Research Affiliate of the Ithaka Institute for Carbon Intelligence - scientific advisor and collaborator, The Ithaka Institute is an international open source non-profit research network for carbon sequestration strategies and cycling through agronomic methods.
05/2015 03/2020
DFG and Marie Curie Post-Doctoral Associate - Stanford University, School of Earth Energy and Environmental Science, Earth System Science Department, California, USA
Return phase to University of Tuebingen: 2018-2019
12/2013 06/2014
Soup kitchen volunteering - Cape Town, South Africa.
08/2008 07/2009
Environmental Volunteering Service - Cape Town, South Africa. Zeekovlei Environmental Education Center and Rondevlei Nature Preserve
Education
PhD
2009
2013
Environmental Science at the University of Tuebingen, Tuebingen, Germany
MSc
2001
2008
2004
2005
Main Funding Record
- UFZ PhD college: SmartManure (2024-2027): Consortium lead with rotating main PIs of each PhD project. Project Title: Coupling circular economy principles with environmental hazard management for liquid manure-based sustainable agriculture. 4 PhD students equivalent.
- DFG Grant (2024-2027): Co-lead with Anja Worrich. Project Title: Riverine floodplains as hotspots for the co-proliferation of antibiotic and metal resistance genes in the environment. 210,241 €
- UFZ Research Unit IV PhD college: CLEANER (2023-2026): Lead of Subproject 3 with Project Title: Plant-microbe interplay for contaminant management in tree percolation systems. 1 PhD student equivalent
- DFG Grant (2022-2024): Project Title: The role of root-soil interactions in shaping greenhouse gas dynamics from thawing permafrost soils. 233,188 €.
- Helmholtz Young Investigator Grant (2020-2026): Project Title: RhizoThreats: Rhizospheres under Attack from Coupled Climate and Heavy Metal Threats. 1.8 million €.
- Baden-Württemberg Elite Programme for Postdocs (2019-2022): Project Title: GreenCad: Cadmium and Climate Impacts on Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions. One PhD student financed with 114,000 €.
- Marie Sklodowska Curie Postdoctoral Grant (2016-2020): Project Title: RACe: The Impact of Climate Change on the Uptake of Arsenic into Rice. 239,861 €.
- German Research Foundation Postdoctoral Scholarship (2014-2015): The impact of Global Warming on the Accumulation of Arsenic in Rice Grains. 82,000 €.
- German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU) PhD Fellowship (2009-2012): Impact of Mineral-Forming and Dissolving Bacteria on the Uptake and Accumulation of Cadmium in Arabidopsis halleri. 40,400 €.
Awards
- 2014 Medalist of the German Dissertation Award (Koerber Foundation, Science division)
- 2014 University of Tuebingen PhD Award
- 2014 Department of Geoscience PhD Award at the University of Tuebingen
- 2008 Medalist of the Biotechnica Study Award for Master theses
Publications
A complete list of publications can be viewed on google scholar.
A list of publications with involvement of the UFZ can be viewed in the UFZ library, surname search Muehe.
Publications in 2024:
Drabesch, S., Lechtenfeld, O.J., Bibaj, E., Ninin, J.M.L., Pachecco, J.L., Fendorf, S., Planer-Friedrich, B., Kappler, A., Muehe, E.M. (2024):Climate induced microbiome alterations increase cadmium bioavailability in agricultural soils with pH below 7. Commun. Earth Environ. 5.
Grafmüller, J., Möllmer, J., Muehe, E.M., Kammann, C.I., Kray, D., Schmidt, H.-P., Hagemann, N. (2024): Granulation compared to co-application of biochar plus mineral fertilizer and its impacts on crop growth and nutrient leaching. Sci. Rep. 14.
Grimm, H., Drabesch, S., Nicol, A., Straub, D., Joshi, P., Zarfl, C., Planer-Friedrich, B., Muehe, E.M., Kappler, A. (2024): Arsenic immobilization and greenhouse gas emission depend on quantity and frequency of nitrogen fertilization in paddy soil. Heliyon 10 (16).
Ninin, J.M.L., Muehe, E.M., Kölbl, A., Mori, A.H., Nicol, A., Gilfedder, B., Pausch, J., Urbanski, L., Lueders, T., Planer-Friedrich, B. (2024): Changes in arsenic mobility and speciation across a 2000-year-old paddy soil chronosequence. Sci. Total Environ. 908.
Public Outreach
I immensely enjoy talking to school classes, clubs and societies about the work I do and how it links to their every day life. If you are interested in a general audience or popular science talk about my work, then do not hesitate to contact me.
Here are some examples of my public outreach endeavours:
- Interview in the German Southeast Radio (SWR) on climate impacts on metal mobility in soils.
- Performing research with highschool students from Erfurt, Germany
- Scientific advise on the public climate change book: Machste dreckig, machste sauber: Die Klimalösung
- Public science article in Attempto!, the research magazine of the University of Tübingen
- General audience presentations to high schools, clubs and societies
- Press releases of my groups, postdoc, PhD work
- Presentations to non-governmental organisations such as the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)
- Interview in the German Southeast Radio (SWR) on Postdoc work
- TV documentary: "Arsenic - the creeping killer"
- Outreach to children: BUNDjugend report on phytoremediation
- Popular science publication in Biospektrum: Biogenic Iron minerals control the environmental fate of toxic metals.