World's Best Scientists 2026 revealed!
Kris Verheyen

Kris Verheyen

Award Badge
Ecology and Evolution
Belgium
2026

D-Index & Metrics

Ecology and Evolution

D-Index
95
Citations
37333
World Ranking
351
National Ranking
4

Research.com Recognitions

  • 2026 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in Belgium Leader Award
  • 2025 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in Belgium Leader Award
  • 2023 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in Belgium Leader Award
  • 2022 - Research.com Ecology and Evolution in Belgium Leader Award

Overview

Kris Verheyen is affiliated with Ghent University in Belgium. Their research primarily spans the fields of Environmental Science and Agricultural and Biological Sciences, with a substantial focus on Nature and Landscape Conservation, Global and Planetary Change, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Insect Science, and Plant Science.

The scope of their work addresses a variety of topics, including:

  • Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies
  • Plant and animal studies
  • Forest ecology and management
  • Forest Ecology and Biodiversity Studies
  • Species Distribution and Climate Change
  • Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
  • Forest Management and Policy

Verheyen's recent publications include research on microclimate effects, forest diversity, and species distribution. Key papers are:

  • "Forest microclimate dynamics drive plant responses to warming," 2020, published in Science
  • "For the sake of resilience and multifunctionality, let's diversify planted forests!", 2021, published in Conservation Letters
  • "Replacements of small- by large-ranged species scale up to diversity loss in Europe's temperate forest biome," 2020, published in Nature Ecology & Evolution
  • "Plant diversity in hedgerows and road verges across Europe," 2020, published in Journal of Applied Ecology
  • "Microclimatic edge-to-interior gradients of European deciduous forests," 2021, published in Agricultural and Forest Meteorology

Collaborations have been frequent with several researchers, notably Pieter De Frenne, Lander Baeten, Jörg Brunet, Quentin Ponette, and Pieter Vangansbeke.

The venues where Kris Verheyen has frequently published include:

  • Forest Ecology and Management
  • Journal of Ecology
  • Journal of Applied Ecology
  • SSRN Electronic Journal
  • Journal of Vegetation Science

Verheyen has contributed to book publications as well, with a notable work titled Handbook of sampling for multi-taxon biodiversity studies in European forests published in 2022 through Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

Best Publications

  • TRY plant trait database : Enhanced coverage and open access

    Jens Kattge;Gerhard Bönisch;Sandra Díaz;Sandra Lavorel

  • Microclimate moderates plant responses to macroclimate warming

    Pieter De Frenne;Pieter De Frenne;Francisco Rodríguez-Sánchez;David Anthony Coomes;Lander Baeten

  • Global buffering of temperatures under forest canopies

    Pieter De Frenne;Florian Zellweger;Francisco Rodríguez-Sánchez;Brett R. Scheffers

  • Forest microclimate dynamics drive plant responses to warming

    Florian Zellweger;Florian Zellweger;Pieter De Frenne;Jonathan Lenoir;Pieter Vangansbeke

  • Global meta-analysis reveals no net change in local-scale plant biodiversity over time

    Mark Vellend;Lander Baeten;Isla H. Myers-Smith;Isla H. Myers-Smith;Sarah C. Elmendorf

  • Extinction debt of forest plants persists for more than a century following habitat fragmentation.

    Mark Vellend;Kris Verheyen;Hans Jacquemyn;Annette Kolb

  • Latitudinal gradients as natural laboratories to infer species' responses to temperature

    Pieter De Frenne;Pieter De Frenne;Bente J. Graae;Francisco Rodríguez‐Sánchez;Annette Kolb

  • Legacies of the past in the present-day forest biodiversity: a review of past land-use effects on forest plant species composition and diversity

    Martin Hermy;Kris Verheyen

  • Response of forest plant species to land-use change: a life-history trait-based approach

    Kris Verheyen;Olivier Honnay;Glenn Motzkin;Martin Hermy

  • Homogenization of forest plant communities and weakening of species–environment relationships via agricultural land use

    Mark Vellend;Kris Verheyen;Kathryn M. Flinn;Hans Jacquemyn

  • Possible effects of habitat fragmentation and climate change on the range of forest plant species

    Olivier Honnay;Kris Verheyen;Jan Butaye;Hans Jacquemyn

  • Growth and yield of mixed versus pure stands of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) analysed along a productivity gradient through Europe

    H. Pretzsch;M. del Río;Ch. Ammer;A. Avdagic

  • Biodiversity and ecosystem functioning relations in European forests depend on environmental context

    Sophia Ratcliffe;Christian Wirth;Christian Wirth;Tommaso Jucker;Tommaso Jucker;Fons van der Plas

  • For the sake of resilience and multifunctionality, let's diversify planted forests!

    Christian Messier;Christian Messier;Jürgen Bauhus;Rita Sousa-Silva;Harald Auge

  • Driving factors behind the eutrophication signal in understorey plant communities of deciduous temperate forests

    Kris Verheyen;Lander Baeten;Pieter De Frenne;Markus Bernhardt-Römermann

  • Rainfall partitioning into throughfall, stemflow, and interception within a single beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) canopy: influence of foliation, rain event characteristics, and meteorology

    Jeroen Staelens;An De Schrijver;Kris Verheyen;Niko E. C. Verhoest

  • Early stage litter decomposition across biomes

    Ika Djukic;Sebastian Kepfer-Rojas;Inger Kappel Schmidt;Klaus Steenberg Larsen

  • Permeability of ancient forest edges for weedy plant species invasion

    Olivier Honnay;Kris Verheyen;Martin Hermy

  • Contributions of a global network of tree diversity experiments to sustainable forest plantations

    Kris Verheyen;Margot Vanhellemont;Harald Auge;Lander Baeten

  • The land use history (1278–1990) of a mixed hardwood forest in western Belgium and its relationship with chemical soil characteristics

    Kris Verheyen;Beatrijs Bossuyt;Martin Hermy;G Tack

  • Phytoextraction of metals from soils: how far from practice?

    Lotte Van Nevel;Jan Mertens;Koen Oorts;Kris Verheyen

Frequent Co-Authors

Martin Hermy
Martin Hermy KU Leuven
Lander Baeten
Lander Baeten Ghent University
An De Schrijver
An De Schrijver Ghent University
Pieter De Frenne
Pieter De Frenne Ghent University
Jeroen Staelens
Jeroen Staelens Flanders Environment Agency
Michael P. Perring
Michael P. Perring Ghent University
Jörg Brunet
Jörg Brunet Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
Guillaume Decocq
Guillaume Decocq University of Picardie Jules Verne
Pascal Boeckx
Pascal Boeckx Ghent University
Quentin Ponette
Quentin Ponette Université Catholique de Louvain

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