Fatema Khatun - Doktorandin

Research Interest
- Sustainable management practices optimizing nutrient uptake, soil health, productivity and biodiversity
- Belowground biodiversity, root interactions, and their implications for soil health and ecosystem resilience in mixed-species systems
- Exploring relationships between plant diversity, ecosystem functioning, and climate resilience for adaptive land-use strategies


Research Project

RootWayS Phase 2: Deep-rooting intercropping systems: Creating highways to subsoil water and nutrient resources

Short CV

05/2024 – Present
PhD student at the Georg-August-University of Goettingen/ Department of Crop Sciences/ Division of Grassland Science
Topic: Working project 5 of RootWayS phase 2 - Subsoil nutrient access through functional trait diversity and belowground niche complementarity

09/2021 – 02/2024
Master of Science in Sustainable Forest and Nature Management (2nd year) at the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Germany and (1st year) at the Bangor University, Wales, UK Thesis: Are trade-offs and win-wins among biodiversity and ecosystem functioning in forests enriched with conifers shaped by environmental condition?

09/2020– 12/2020
Research Assistant at Bangladesh Tropical Forest Conservation Foundation, Bangladesh
Project: Greening Environment through Livelihood Improvement and Forest Enrichment

03/2019 – 03/2020
Research Assistant at Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council, Bangladesh
Project: Exploration, Identification, Characterization, Multiplication and Ex-Situ Conservation of Endangered Forest Genetic Resources including Medicinal Plants of Bangladesh

09/2018 – 02/2020
Research Assistant at Chittagong Hill Tracts, Bangladesh
Project: Property Rights Systems, Decision Making Structure and Consensus Formation about Forest Resource Use in the Village for the Chittagong Hill Tracts

01/2013 - 02/2020
Bachelor and Masters in Forestry at the University of Chittagong, Bangladesh

Publications

Khatun, F., Herrmann, A., Bukowiecki, J., Schwarz, F., Kage, H., Isselstein, J., Gaiser, T., Hüging, H., Macholdt, J., Rühlmann, J., Asabere, S.B., Bull, I., Möller, K., Heil, K., Komainda, M., 2026. Predicting Soil Nitrogen Mineralization Rate in Agricultural Soils Using Near Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy (NIRS): A Laboratory Incubation Study. Soil Use and Management 42(3): e70280.
doi.org/10.1111/sum.70280

Khatun F., Füllgrabe H., Holzhauser K., Spielvogel S., Dippold M., Isselstein J., Komainda M., 2026. Functional trait-based design of cover crops for maize yield, resource use, and nitrogen dynamics. Grassland Science in Europe 31, 119-121.
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