Academic Education
1997: Doctorate of Ecology, San Diego State University/ University of California Davis, U.S.A.
1992 – 1993: Botany (non-graduating), University of Edinburgh, UK
1991: Vordiplom, Biolgoy, Universität Kaiserslautern, Germany
Professional Experience (selected)
Since 2007: Professor of Ecology, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
Since 2013: Director, Berlin-Brandenburg Institute of Advanced Biodiversity Research
1999 – 2007: Assistant and Associated Professor, University of Montana, U.S.A.
1998 – 1999: Postdoc, Camegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, U.S.A.
Since 2021: Member, DFG (German Research Foundation) Permanent Senate Commission on Fundamental Issues of Biological Diversity
2004 – 2014: Editor-in-Chief, Pedobiologia, now Editorial Board
2008 – 2020: Editor, Ecology, Ecological Monographs
2011 – 2015: Editor, PLoS One
2022-2026: PlasticUnderground: Pollution by microand nanoplastics in soil and groundwater systems, EU Horizon 2021, MCSA
2022-2025: SOIL-HEAL Symbiotic solutions for sustainable agricultural systems, EJP Soil - BMBF
2022-2025: SOIL-HEAL Symbiotic solutions for sustainable agricultural systems, BMBF
2015-2025: Soil3 Sustainable subsoil management, BMBF
Rillig, M.C., Kim, S.W., Schäffer, A., Sigmund, G., Groh, K., Wang, Z. (2022): About “controls” in pollution-ecology experiments in the Anthropocene. Environmental Science & Technology 56, 11928 – 11930. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c05460.
Bank, M.S., Mitrano, D.M., Rillig, M.C., Lin, C.S.K., Ok, Y.S. (2022): Embrace complexity to understand
microplastic pollution. Nature Reviews Earth & Environment 3: 736 – 737. doi: 10.1038/s43017-022-
00365-x.
Yang, G., Ryo, M., Roy, J., Lammel, D., Ballhausen, M.B., Jing, X., Zhu, X., Rillig, M.C. (2022): Multiple
anthropogenic pressures eliminate the effects of soil microbial diversity on ecosystem functions in
experimental microcosms. Nature Communications 13: 4260; doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31936-7.
Zhu, D., Ma, J., Li, G., Rillig, M.C., Zhu, Y.G. (2022): Soil plastispheres as hotspots of antibiotic
resistance genes and potential pathogens. The ISME Journal 16: 521 – 532. doi; 10.1038/s41396-021-
01103-9.
Rillig, M.C., Leifheit, E.F., Lehmann, J. (2021): Microplastic effects on carbon cycling processes in
soils. PLOS Biology 19(3): e3001130. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.3001130.
Rillig, M.C., Ryo, M., Lehmann, A. (2021): Classifying human influences on terrestrial ecosystems.
Global Change Biology 27: 2273-2278. doi: 10.1111/gcb.15577.