Rien Aerts

34.7k total citations · 8 hit papers
206 papers, 20.7k citations indexed

About

Rien Aerts is a scholar working on Ecology, Plant Science and Atmospheric Science. According to data from OpenAlex, Rien Aerts has authored 206 papers receiving a total of 20.7k indexed citations (citations by other indexed papers that have themselves been cited), including 124 papers in Ecology, 73 papers in Plant Science and 59 papers in Atmospheric Science. Recurrent topics in Rien Aerts's work include Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology (86 papers), Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies (53 papers) and Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics (37 papers). Rien Aerts is often cited by papers focused on Peatlands and Wetlands Ecology (86 papers), Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies (53 papers) and Soil Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics (37 papers). Rien Aerts collaborates with scholars based in Netherlands, United Kingdom and Sweden. Rien Aerts's co-authors include Johannes H. C. Cornelissen, Richard S. P. van Logtestijn, Peter M. van Bodegom, Frank Berendse, Hannie de Caluwe, Grégoire T. Freschet, Ellen Dorrepaal, Terry V. Callaghan, Sylvia Toet and Jan‐Philip M. Witte and has published in prestigious journals such as Nature, Nature Communications and Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres.

In The Last Decade

Rien Aerts

201 papers receiving 19.7k citations

Hit Papers

5 papers align trajectories

What are hit papers?

Hit papers significantly outperform the citation benchmark for their cohort. A paper qualifies if it has ≥500 total citations, achieves ≥1.5× the top-1% citation threshold for papers in the same subfield and year (this is the minimum needed to enter the top 1%, not the average within it), or reaches the top citation threshold in at least one of its specific research topics.

Climate, Leaf Litter Chemistry and Leaf Litter Decomposition in Terrestrial Ecosystems: A Triangular Relationship

1997 1.4k citations Rien Aerts profile →
Nutrient Resorption from Senescing Leaves of Perennials: Are there General Patterns?

1996 975 citations Rien Aerts Journal of Ecology profile →
A global study of relationships between leaf traits, climate and soil measures of nutrient fertility

2008 823 citations Peter M. van Bodegom, Ian J. Wright et al. profile →
Consequences of biodiversity loss for litter decomposition across biomes

2014 597 citations I. Tanya Handa, Rien Aerts et al. profile →
Carbon respiration from subsurface peat accelerated by climate warming in the subarctic

2009 570 citations Richard S. P. van Logtestijn, Rien Aerts et al. profile →
Evidence of the ‘plant economics spectrum’ in a subarctic flora

2009 474 citations Grégoire T. Freschet, Johannes H. C. Cornelissen et al. Journal of Ecology profile →
Methane Feedbacks to the Global Climate System in a Warmer World

2018 401 citations Joshua Dean, Rien Aerts et al. profile →
Highly consistent effects of plant litter identity and functional traits on decomposition across a latitudinal gradient

2012 381 citations Marika Makkonen, Matty P. Berg et al. Ecology Letters profile →

Peers — A (Enhanced Table)

Peers by citation overlap · career bar shows stage (early→late) cites · hero ref

Name	h						Papers	Cites
Rien Aerts Netherlands	73	9.0k	7.5k	6.2k	6.0k	5.0k	206	20.7k
Timothy J. Fahey United States	77	6.3k 0.7×	5.4k 0.7×	4.5k 0.7×	7.0k 1.2×	5.4k 1.1×	309	18.5k
Johannes H. C. Cornelissen Netherlands	65	6.6k 0.7×	9.5k 1.3×	6.3k 1.0×	4.5k 0.7×	5.7k 1.2×	231	20.1k
Stephen C. Hart United States	64	7.3k 0.8×	4.6k 0.6×	3.4k 0.5×	7.9k 1.3×	5.5k 1.1×	207	17.9k
Knute J. Nadelhoffer United States	68	9.6k 1.1×	4.7k 0.6×	4.3k 0.7×	9.6k 1.6×	6.8k 1.4×	148	22.3k
Joseph M. Craine United States	54	5.1k 0.6×	4.8k 0.6×	4.2k 0.7×	5.4k 0.9×	3.8k 0.8×	112	14.2k
Elsa E. Cleland United States	47	7.2k 0.8×	7.1k 0.9×	4.0k 0.6×	3.1k 0.5×	4.8k 1.0×	79	17.4k
Gaius R. Shaver United States	76	9.4k 1.0×	4.1k 0.6×	4.6k 0.7×	4.5k 0.7×	5.8k 1.2×	166	21.6k
Jacek Oleksyn Poland	56	3.3k 0.4×	9.2k 1.2×	7.6k 1.2×	4.0k 0.7×	7.8k 1.6×	154	18.3k
Cory C. Cleveland United States	62	9.3k 1.0×	3.6k 0.5×	5.3k 0.9×	10.7k 1.8×	4.1k 0.8×	121	22.0k
Shiqiang Wan China	65	6.0k 0.7×	3.5k 0.5×	4.2k 0.7×	8.0k 1.3×	6.8k 1.4×	215	15.8k

Countries citing papers authored by Rien Aerts

Since Specialization

Citations

This map shows the geographic impact of Rien Aerts's research. It shows the number of citations coming from papers published by authors working in each country. You can also color the map by specialization and compare the number of citations received by Rien Aerts with the expected number of citations based on a country's size and research output (numbers larger than one mean the country cites Rien Aerts more than expected).

Fields of papers citing papers by Rien Aerts

Since Specialization

Physical SciencesHealth SciencesLife SciencesSocial Sciences

This network shows the impact of papers produced by Rien Aerts. Nodes represent research fields, and links connect fields that are likely to share authors. Colored nodes show fields that tend to cite the papers produced by Rien Aerts. The network helps show where Rien Aerts may publish in the future.

Co-authorship network of co-authors of Rien Aerts

This figure shows the co-authorship network connecting the top 25 collaborators of Rien Aerts. A scholar is included among the top collaborators of Rien Aerts based on the total number of citations received by their joint publications. Widths of edges represent the number of papers authors have co-authored together. Node borders signify the number of papers an author published with Rien Aerts. Rien Aerts is excluded from the visualization to improve readability, since they are connected to all nodes in the network.

All Works

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20 of 20 papers shown

Marinissen, J.C.Y., et al.. (2025). Stronger Drought Response of CO₂ Fluxes in Tundra Heath Compared to Sphagnum Peatland in the Sub‐Arctic. Global Change Biology. 31(4). e70210–e70210.

Bokhorst, Stef, Peter Convey, & Rien Aerts. (2024). Community assembly among potential invasive plants in Antarctica shaped by life history characteristics and climate warming. Biological Invasions. 26(12). 4149–4163. 1 indexed citations

Bokhorst, Stef, Tamara Contador, Roy Mackenzie, Peter Convey, & Rien Aerts. (2024). Habitat type controls microarthropod community changes across a Magellanic sub-Antarctic elevation gradient. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution. 12.

Andresen, Louise C., Samuel Bodé, Robert G. Björk, et al.. (2022). Patterns of free amino acids in tundra soils reflect mycorrhizal type, shrubification, and warming. Mycorrhiza. 32(3-4). 305–313. 5 indexed citations

Cornwell, William K., et al.. (2022). Experimental evidence that leaf litter decomposability and flammability are decoupled across gymnosperm species. Journal of Ecology. 111(4). 761–772. 5 indexed citations

Zhou, Shixing, Olaf Butenschoen, Sandra Barantal, et al.. (2020). Decomposition of leaf litter mixtures across biomes: The role of litter identity, diversity and soil fauna. Journal of Ecology. 108(6). 2283–2297. 79 indexed citations

Dean, Joshua, Jurgen van Hal, A. J. Dolman, Rien Aerts, & James T. Weedon. (2018). Filtration artefacts in bacterial community composition can affect the outcome of dissolved organic matter biolability assays. Biogeosciences. 15(23). 7141–7154. 11 indexed citations

Leblans, Niki I. W., Bjarni D. Sigurðsson, Rien Aerts, et al.. (2016). Icelandic grasslands as long-term C sinks under elevated N inputs. 1 indexed citations

Verheijen, Lieneke M., Rien Aerts, Victor Brovkin, et al.. (2015). Inclusion of ecologically based trait variation in plant functional types reduces the projected land carbon sink in an earth system model. Global Change Biology. 21(8). 3074–3086. 82 indexed citations

10.

Temme, Andries A., William K. Cornwell, Hans Cornelissen, & Rien Aerts. (2014). From the low past to the high future: Plant growth across CO2 levels. EGU General Assembly Conference Abstracts. 11606. 1 indexed citations

11.

Verheijen, Lieneke M., Victor Brovkin, Rien Aerts, et al.. (2013). Impacts of trait variation through observed trait–climate relationships on performance of an Earth system model: a conceptual analysis. Biogeosciences. 10(8). 5497–5515. 110 indexed citations

12.

Makkonen, Marika, Matty P. Berg, I. Tanya Handa, et al.. (2012). Highly consistent effects of plant litter identity and functional traits on decomposition across a latitudinal gradient. Ecology Letters. 15(9). 1033–1041. 381 indexed citations breakdown →

13.

Freschet, Grégoire T., Johannes H. C. Cornelissen, Richard S. P. van Logtestijn, & Rien Aerts. (2009). Evidence of the ‘plant economics spectrum’ in a subarctic flora. Journal of Ecology. 98(2). 362–373. 474 indexed citations breakdown →

14.

Bartholomeus, Ruud P., J.P.M. Witte, Peter M. van Bodegom, J.C. van Dam, & Rien Aerts. (2008). Critical soil conditions for oxygen availability to plant roots: improvement of the Feddes-function.. VU Research Portal. 1 indexed citations

15.

Bokhorst, Stef, A. H. L. Huiskes, Peter Convey, & Rien Aerts. (2007). The effect of environmental change on vascular plant and cryptogam communities from the Falkland Islands and the Maritime Antarctic. BMC Ecology. 7(1). 15–15. 68 indexed citations

16.

Hoorens, Bart, Rien Aerts, & M. Stroetenga. (2003). Does initial litter chemistry explain litter mixture effects on decomposition?. Oecologia. 137(4). 578–586. 232 indexed citations

17.

Staaij, J.W.M. van de, et al.. (2001). Increased solar UV-B radiation reduces infection by arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in dune grassland plants.. Plant Ecology. 154. 171–177. 12 indexed citations

18.

Aerts, Rien & Gerrit W. Heil. (1993). Heathlands: Patterns and processes in a changing environment.. Kluwer Academic Publishers eBooks. 148 indexed citations

19.

Berendse, Frank & Rien Aerts. (1987). Nitrogen-use efficiency : a biologically meaningful definition?. Functional Ecology. 1(3). 293–296. 331 indexed citations

20.

Spitters, C.J.T. & Rien Aerts. (1983). Simulation of competition for light and water in crop-weed associations. Socio-Environmental Systems Modeling. 4. 467–483. 125 indexed citations

Rankless uses publication and citation data sourced from OpenAlex, an open and comprehensive bibliographic database. While OpenAlex provides broad and valuable coverage of the global research landscape, it—like all bibliographic datasets—has inherent limitations. These include incomplete records, variations in author disambiguation, differences in journal indexing, and delays in data updates. As a result, some metrics and network relationships displayed in Rankless may not fully capture the entirety of a scholar's output or impact.

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