{{Short description|Evolutionary biologist}} {{Infobox scientist | name = Toby Kiers | birth_name = Erica Tobyn Kiers | image = PeVa IMG 7892 Vu Communicatie OAJ Toby Kiers.jpg | caption = | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1976}} | birth_place = | | fields = | workplaces = Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam | alma_mater = {{Plainlist| * Bowdoin College * UC Davis }} | thesis_title = Evolution of cooperation in the legume-rhizobium symbiosis | thesis_url = https://www.proquest.com/docview/305032525 | thesis_year = 2005 | doctoral_advisor = Robert Ford Denison | notable_students = | known_for = | author_abbrev_bot = | author_abbrev_zoo = | awards = | website = {{url|https://tobykiers.com/}} }}
'''Toby Kiers''' is an American evolutionary biologist who is a University Research Chair and professor at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Toby Kiers|url=https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/toby-kiers|access-date=2021-03-30|website=Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam|language=en}}</ref> Kiers pioneered an economic interpretation of the interactions and exchanges between plants, fungi and microbes in mycorrhizal networks.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Toby Kiers - University Research Chair - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam|url=https://www.vu.nl/en/research/topresearchers-at-vu/university-research-chair/kiers/index.aspx|access-date=2021-03-30|website=www.vu.nl}}</ref> She co-founded the Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN). Kiers is a 2023 Spinoza laureate<ref>{{Cite web |title=Toby Kiers receives Spinoza Prize for groundbreaking fungal research |url=https://vu.nl/en/news/2023/toby-kiers-receives-spinoza-prize-for-groundbreaking-fungal-research |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Spinoza laureates 2023 {{!}} NWO |url=https://www.nwo.nl/en/spinoza-laureates-2023 |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=www.nwo.nl |language=en}}</ref>, 2025 Climate Breakthrough Award awardee <ref>{{Cite web |last=Burdick |first=Alan |date=January 14, 2026 |title=Toby Kiers, World Champion of Fungus |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/science/toby-kiers-fungus-tyler-prize.html |access-date=January 14, 2026 |website=The New York Times}}</ref> and the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship. She also received the 2026 Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement.<ref>{{Cite web |title= 2026 Tyler Prize Laureate |url=https://www.tylerprize.org/laureates/toby-kiers |access-date=2026-01-14 |website=Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement |language=en}}</ref>
== Early life and education == Kiers attended The Mountain School in Vermont for her fall 1992 high school semester.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web|date=2015|title=News from the Mountain School|url=https://static1.squarespace.com/static/573ca743b6aa60ab91ae6122/t/575f158ed210b8af8e3285b3/1465849235842/finalf2015color.pdf|access-date=2021-03-30|website=www.mountainschool.org/newsletters}}{{dead link|date=January 2023}}</ref>
Kiers received her B.A. in 1999 from Bowdoin College. In 1997, she spent time as a student at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and gave a talk.<ref>{{cite news |title=BAMBI Seminar at BCI |date=25 April 1997 |newspaper=STRI News |hdl=10088/97511 |url=https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/97511 }}</ref>
She did her Ph.D. at UC Davis, completing a thesis entitled ''Evolution of cooperation in the legume-rhizobium symbiosis'' in 2005 supervised by Robert Ford Denison.<ref>{{cite thesis |id={{ProQuest|305032525}} |last1=Kiers |first1=Erica Tobyn |date=2005 |title=Evolution of cooperation in the legume-rhizobium symbiosis }}</ref>
== Career and research ==
Kiers is best known for her work on mycorrhizal networks, studying the rates of exchange of nutrients. Her observations are that fungi in the soil behave as economic agents in a free-market system, supplying more phosphorus to plants that are able to deliver more sugar in exchange.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Microbes buy low and sell high|url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-01/wuis-mbl011214.php|access-date=2021-03-30|website=EurekAlert!|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Cossins|first=Daniel|title=Brainless fungi trade resources with plants like a stock market|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/2205604-brainless-fungi-trade-resources-with-plants-like-a-stock-market/|access-date=2021-03-30|website=New Scientist|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=2019-06-06|title=Fungi, it turns out, are canny traders of nutrients to plants|newspaper=The Economist|url=https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2019/06/06/fungi-it-turns-out-are-canny-traders-of-nutrients-to-plants|access-date=2021-03-30|issn=0013-0613}}</ref> Based on this hypothesis, Kiers is interested in developing fungi that behave "altruistically" in their environment to foster efficient plant growth and reduce the need for fertilizers.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|title=Using fungi to decrease need for chemical fertilizers|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160408183655.htm|access-date=2021-03-30|website=ScienceDaily|language=en}}</ref> This interpretation of soil interactions as competition complicated the picture of a collaborative equilibrium that had begun to develop prior. It also allows Kiers to borrow mathematical models from economic theory to characterize nutrient exchanges. To track the flow of nutrients, Kiers has pioneered the use of quantum dots to tag molecules so that they fluoresce and can be more easily differentiated.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Popkin|first=Gabriel|date=2019-08-19|title=Soil's Microbial Market Shows the Ruthless Side of Forests|url=https://www.quantamagazine.org/soils-microbial-market-shows-the-ruthless-side-of-forests-20190827/|access-date=2021-03-30|website=Quanta Magazine|language=en}}</ref> Her work also concerns the evolution of plant-fungal interactions as the organisms evolve and enter into contact with new partners.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Plant relationships breakdown when they meet new 'fungi'|url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180503101649.htm|access-date=2021-03-30|website=ScienceDaily|language=en}}</ref> Her research is supported by the European Research Council,<ref>{{Cite web|date=2017-03-20|title=Toby Kiers|url=https://erc.europa.eu/erc_member/toby-kiers|access-date=2021-03-30|website=ERC: European Research Council|language=en}}</ref> the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) and the National Science Foundation.<ref name=":2" />
Kiers's economic interpretation of nutrient exchange is not universally accepted. Others have noted that this perspective anthropomorphizes fungi in a way that may not accurately capture the true dynamics of the system. By assuming that each organism acts to further its own personal gain, the theory neglects the possibility that plants and fungi may exist in a fully collaborative relationship with well-aligned interests.<ref name=":1" />
She helped to create an art installation with Isaac Monté<ref>{{Cite web|last=Monté|first=Isaac|title=MU {{!}} Interview With BAD Award Winner Isaac Monté & Toby Kiers|url=https://www.mu.nl/en/txt/interview-with-bad-award-winner-isaac-mont-toby-kiers|access-date=2021-03-30|website=www.mu.nl}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=The Art of Deception|url=http://www.mediamatic.net/en/page/14513/the-art-of-deception|access-date=2021-03-30|website=Mediamatic|language=en}}</ref> and worked with designer Niels Hoebers to create an animated short film as a visual aid for her research presentations.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kennedy|first=Gabrielle|date=2013-12-05|title=When Science meets Design|url=http://design.nl/item/when_science_meets_design|access-date=2021-03-30|website=design.nl|language=en}}</ref> Her research and comments on mycorrhizal networks were featured in the 2020 book ''Entangled Life''.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Our Entangled World - Rex Weyler|url=https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/44711/our-entangled-world|access-date=2021-03-30|website=Greenpeace International|language=en}}</ref> Kiers has launched a non-profit organization called Society for the Protection of Underground Networks (SPUN) dedicated to informing the public about mycorrhizal networks, protecting biodiversity hotspots, and promoting further research.<ref>{{Cite web|title=European Philosophy of Science Association (EPSA) - Science meets Philosophy: Toby Kiers|url=https://philsci.eu/page-1075525|access-date=2021-03-30|website=philsci.eu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=SPUN – Protect the underground|url=https://spun.earth/|access-date=2021-03-30|language=nl}}</ref> Kiers founded SPUN to map the biodiversity of the Earth's mycorrhizal communities... [and] is mapping what has been called the "dark matter" of life on the planet. <ref>{{Cite book |last=Hawken |first=Paul |title=Carbon: the book of life |date=2025 |publisher=Viking |isbn=978-0-525-42744-5 |location=New York}}</ref>
== Awards and honours == * 2015 Bio Art & Design (BAD) Award in collaboration with artist Isaac Monté.<ref>{{Cite web|title=MU {{!}} Announcing Winners BAD Award 2015|url=https://www.mu.nl/en/about/news/announcing-winners-bad-award-2015|access-date=2021-03-30|website=www.mu.nl}}</ref> * 2019 Laureate, Ammodo Science Award in Natural Sciences.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web|title=Toby Kiers|url=https://ammodo-science-award.org/en/fundamental/laureate/toby-kiers/|access-date=2021-03-30|website=Ammodo Science Award|language=en-US}}</ref> * 2023 Impact Award (Amsterdam science and innovation awards)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Impact Award recipients 2023 |url=https://www.amsia.nl/impact-award-recipients-2023/ |access-date=2023-11-15 |website=Amsterdam Science Innovation Award |language=en-US}}</ref> * 2023 Spinoza Prize, by the Dutch Research Council (NWO){{cn|date=July 2024}} * 2025 Kiers was awarded a MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, popularly known as the MacArthur Foundation's "Genius Award"<ref>https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/08/arts/design/macarthur-foundation-2025-genius-grant-winners.html</ref>
== Personal life ==
She is married to the poet Cralan Kelder<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kiers |first=Toby |date=2024-04-26 |title=Opinion {{!}} A Simple Act of Defiance Can Improve Science for Women |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/26/opinion/women-science-motherhood.html |access-date=2025-04-20 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> and has two children.<ref name=":3" />
Kiers has been a strong advocate against bioengineered food, demanding that labels clearly indicate the presence of genetically engineered ingredients.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Lewis|first=Raphael|date=2000-03-26|title=Opposition reflects the diversity of grass-roots movement|work=The Boston Globe|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/428638178|access-date=2021-03-30}}</ref> == References == {{scholia}} {{Reflist}}
== External links == {{Commonscat}} * [https://tobykiers.com/ Toby Kiers website] * {{google scholar id|p9g7ZK0AAAAJ}} * [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/14/science/toby-kiers-fungus-tyler-prize.html Profile of Toby Kiers], ''New York Times,'' Jan. 14, 2026 * {{YouTube|id=NjwvaF3P_5Q|title=Lessons from fungi on markets and economics <nowiki>|</nowiki> Toby Kiers}} (TED talk) * [https://vimeo.com/329757636 Ammodo Science Award 2019 - Toby Kiers]
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Kiers, Toby}} Category:1976 births Category:Living people Category:Women evolutionary biologists Category:Women mycologists Category:Academic staff of Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Category:University of California, Davis alumni Category:Bowdoin College alumni Category:MacArthur Fellows