Aaron Fox

Research Interests

Research interests include soil microbiome-mediated nutrient cycling and the development of sustainable agricultural systems. My research focuses on how agricultural management practices influence microbial community structure and microbiome-mediated carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in both peat and mineral soils. Using molecular and ecological approaches, I investigate plant–microbe interactions, soil nutrient dynamics and carbon sequestration to improve soil health and agroecosystem resilience under changing environmental conditions.

Current Projects

• SFI-IRC Pathway programme (2023-2027): EuroGrass – Unlocking the black box: Consequences of agricultural grassland management intensity on soil microbiome-mediated nutrient cycling potential in Europe.
• Teagasc Walsh Scholarship (2025-2029): Influence of agricultural management on soil microbial biodiversity and microbially mediated carbon cycling in Irish Peat Soils.

Completed Projects

• Research Leaders 2025, Marie Skłodowska-Curie postdoctoral fellowship (2021-2023): Function follows diversity: Consequences of altered plant or soil microbial diversity for nutrient turnover in grasslands

Education

• 2025:  Level 5 certificate in Agriculture and level 6 specific purpose certificate in Farming – Teagasc    Green Cert.
• 2017: PhD: University of Limerick. Thesis title: ‘The impact of Carbon on Microbial Community Dynamics in Irish Grasslands’.
• 2013: MSc: University of Limerick. Thesis title: ‘The Microbial Mobilization of Sulphur and Phosphorus in Biochar Amended Soils’.
• 2011: BSc (Natural Science, Microbiology): Trinity College Dublin.

Career

• 2023-2024: SFI-IRC Pathway programme Research Fellow. Teagasc Johnstown Castle.
• 2021-2023: Research Leaders 2025, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MCSA) Postdoctoral Fellow. Helmholtz Zentrum Munich, Germany (outward host) and Teagasc (Johnstown Castle), Ireland (inward host).
• 2017-2021: Postdoctoral Researcher, Agroscope, Switzerland. Part of the BiodivERsA COFUND BIOINVENT project, investigating the impact of grassland management intensity on soil microbial community structure.

Professional Membership

View publications by Aaron Fox on Google Scholar

Fox, A., Schulz, S., Brennan, F., Gschwend, F., Barreiro, A., Widmer, F., Schloter, M., Huguenin-Elie, O., Lüscher, A. (2025) Long-term mineral fertilization shaped aboveground plant and belowground bacterial and fungal communities more than cutting frequency in a temperate grassland. Applied Soil Ecology, 215: 106462.

Fox, A., Barreiro, A., Wall, D., Bondi G. (2025) Identifying biomarkers for shifts in microbial community structure in Irish Grasslands: the influence of context-specific drivers. Journal of Soils and Sediments, 25(9): 2709-2723.

Mayerhofer, J., Richter, F., Fox, A., Widmer, F., Lüscher, A., Klaus, V., Hartmann M. (2025) Impact of grassland management intensity on associations between bacterial, fungal and plant communities. European Journal of Soil Biology, 126: 103754

Hennecke, J., Bassi, L., Albracht, C., Amyntas, A., Bergmann, J., Eisenhauer, N., Fox, A., Heimbold, L., Heintz-Buschart, A., Kuyper et al. (2025) ‘Plant Species Richness and the Root Economics Space Drive Soil Fungal Communities’. Ecology Letters. 28:e70032.

Fox, A., Widmer, F. and Lüscher, A. (2022). Soil microbial community structures are shaped by agricultural systems revealing little temporal variation. Environmental Research, Environmental Research, 214(6): 113915.

Fox, A., Widmer, F., Barreiro, A., Dimitrova Mårtensson, L-M. , Silva, L., Vieira, Â, F., Musyoki, M., Zimmermann, J., Rasche, F., and Lüscher, A. (2021) ‘Small-scale agricultural grassland management can affect soil fungal community structure as much as continental scale geographic patterns’. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 97, 12, fiab148.

Fox. A., Lüscher, A. and Widmer, F. (2020) Plant species identity drives soil microbial community structures which persist under a following crop. Ecology and Evolution, Vol. 10, pp.8652-8668.

Fox, A., Suter, M., Widmer, F. and Lüscher, A. (2020) Positive legacy effect of previous legume proportion in a ley on the performance of a following crop of Lolium multiflorum. Plant and Soil, Vol. 447, pp. 497-506.

Fox. A., Ikoyi, I., Torres. G., Lanigan, G., Schmalenberger, A., Wakelin, S. and Creamer, R. (2018) The influence of aggregate size fraction and horizon position on microbial community composition. Applied Soil Ecology, Vol. 127, pp.19-29.

Fox, A., Kwapinski, W., Griffiths, B.S. and Schmalenberger, A. (2014) The role of sulfur- and phosphorus- mobilizing bacteria in biochar-induced growth promotion of Lolium perenne. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, Vol. 90, pp. 78-91.