Tom Bongers, Wageningen University,
Netherlands
Tom Bongers was born in 1946 in Gaanderen, The Netherlands, a small village
close to the German border. After completing primary school (age 12), he entered
a technical secondary school that did not prepare students for entry into a
university. At both primary and secondary schools he was influenced by very
motivated biology teachers and became interested in field biology.
At age 16, Bongers began his career in Nematology as a technician at the
Laboratory for Crop and Soil Analysis in Oosterbeek, Netherlands. His first
responsibility
was for extraction of nematodes from soil. Later, he analyzed nematode samples
to provide advice to farmers, which initiated his true interest in nematodes.
During this period he attended evening classes to become certified as a
"Botanical Analyst". He worked at the laboratory for five years, interrupted by
a period of military service. Motivated to pursue his interests in Nematology,
he consulted Bert Schoemaker, head of the Nematology Department in Oosterbeek.
Schoemaker suggested that he write to Dr. Michael Oostenbrink, head of the Nematology Section of the Plant Protection Service in Wageningen and docent of
Nematology at Wageningen University. Oostenbrink offered him a job at the Plant
Protection Service, where the work was less routine than at Oosterbeek.
Two years later, Bongers consulted with Dr. Oostenbrink again and was given a
position at Wageningen University as an assistant of Fred Gommers in studies of
the nematicidal properties of Compositae. University research and teaching
motivated him and three years later he decided to give up the laboratory
assistant position and become a student. There he encountered an obstacle.
Unfortunately, his secondary school education and the Botanical Analyst training
did not qualify him for entry into the University. Appeals were made to various
agencies and the problem was even discussed in the Dutch Parliament. In 1973, he
finally received permission to begin studying biology at Wageningen University.
Since he had become accustomed to the salary of a laboratory technician,
Bongers supplemented his income during his undergraduate career as a teaching
assistant in courses in Nematology, biosystematics, Dutch flora and fauna, and
water quality assessment. Assisting in the courses appealed to his interest in
identifying organisms. It also exposed him to the underlying ideas and the
realization that there is additional value to identification when the organisms
serve as biological indicators.
The foci of Tom's undergraduate studies were animal taxonomy, nematology and
fish culture. He became interested in marine nematodes and participated in a
cultural exchange with the former Soviet Union. That allowed him, for three
months, to study type material of marine Leptosomatidae at the Zoological Museum
in the present St. Petersburg with the late Tatjana Platonova. In another
exchange, he worked with Duane Hope at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington.
Bongers completed his required practical experience in Plant Nematology at the
ORSTOM laboratory in Ivory Coast, where he worked with Patrice Cadet and Renaud
Fortuner. Dr. Oostenbrink, his mentor and the Docent of Nematology at Wageningen
University, died during that period.
After completing his undergraduate degree requirements in 1981, he succeeded
in obtaining funding for half a year to continue his study of marine nematodes.
Rather than wait at home until a nematode taxonomist position became available,
he worked as a volunteer at the Nematology Laboratory. He continued his work on
marine nematodes and obtained funding to visit Russia once more to study type
material. After two years, Tom had published sufficient papers for a doctoral
thesis! He defended his thesis, and married, in 1984.
During this period, the early 1980s, acid rain and dying pine trees were
attracting considerable attention in the Netherlands. There was concern that
Bursaphelenchus might be involved. In
cooperation with the National Organization for Forestry (SBB), Bongers
inventoried the nematode fauna of declining forests. Although Bursaphelenchus
was not found, he observed that forest soils with high ammonia deposition
contained fewer nematodes than agricultural soils after a nematicide treatment.
He mentioned this at a small meeting and, during the lunch, he sat opposite a
lady that he did not know. She expressed an interest in nematodes, without
saying why, and asked if she might visit Wageningen to see the extraction and
identification processes. A week later, she visited Bongers and was provided
with a full demonstration. He also explained the temporary nature of his
position. Very early the next day, the lady telephoned and asked whether he was
interested in a project to provide a research basis for using nematodes as
indicator organisms. The lady was Frederike Kappers of the Dutch National
Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM). In that organization,
they were planning a group focusing on soil ecology and were seeking a group of
organisms for monitoring the functioning of soils. As they did not have any
experience with nematodes, they asked Tom Bongers to study the relationship
between nematodes, the plant community and soil type.
The connection with RIVM provided Bongers with the opportunity to write a
proposal and to indicate the necessary support. He proposed a four-year project
that provided his salary and that of a technician. This provided an excellent
opportunity to demonstrate the importance of (the taxonomy of) free-living
nematodes. At the same time, he undertook to bridge the gap between nematode
taxonomists and soil ecologists by composing a user-friendly identification key
for "De Nematoden van Nederland".
Meanwhile, the RIVM soil ecology group started to monitor the biological
recovery of soils that were decontaminated by heating to 1,400 ˚C and then
amended with organic material. The question arose as to whether nematodes could
indicate that recovery. Building on the studies on ecological succession in cow
dung by Walter Sudhaus and colleagues in Berlin, Bongers predicted a succession
of nematodes in the amended soils and the idea of the Maturity Index
crystallized. After the project was completed, the new Professor of Nematology,
Dr. Ton van der Wal, realized the value of nematodes as indicators of soil
quality and the importance of nematode collections and taxonomic infrastructure.
Recent evolution of the Maturity Index concepts, and recognition of the
abundance and diversity of nematodes, has led to a functional guild
classification as a basis for studying and comparing ecosystem processes.
Funding for a subsequent project was delayed and Dr. Piet Loof, the curator
of the nematode collection, generously offered to retire early provided that he
was allowed to continue his work and that Bongers was given his position. In
that position, Tom realized the need for a course in routine nematode
identification and a course focusing on the use of nematodes in environmental
studies. The identification course is taught in English because of the
international demand for (soil) biologists, and others interested in nematodes.
The two-week course is held annually in June. He has also taught identification
courses in Hungary and Germany and given lectures in the nematology course in
Ghent, Belgium.
The nematode collection at Wageningen University, established by Piet Loof,
is probably the largest in the world. It includes about 200,000 specimens
mounted on Cobb’s slides and individually registered. Piet Loof had developed a
nomenclature card system for terrestrial, freshwater and marine nematodes. The
data system is kept updated and provides the basis for a key for European
nematodes. Within the framework of Fauna Europaea, Tom became the coordinator
for the inventory of free-living terrestrial and freshwater nematodes. The
Wageningen infrastructure also provided the opportunity for him to become the
international coordinator of the nematode component of a Dutch-funded project
(Sustainable Use of Biodiversity) at the Instituto Nacional de Biodiversidad (INBio)
in Costa Rica.
Bongers reports that he has been lucky throughout his career to meet
potential colleagues and collaborators at the right time. Loof's work, the
nematode collection, and Bongers emerging faunal analysis concepts, attracted
many visitors to the laboratory. Among the visitors were important nematologists
(taxonomist and ecologists) and, in his own words, he "realized that the most
famous nematologists are normal people". Consequently, he sent his Dutch report
on soil nematodes to Gregor Yeates in
New Zealand and received a very positive response. They have been in close
contact since that time. German colleague,
Klemens Ekschmitt attended the
nematode identification course in the early 1990s and became enthusiastic about
nematodes. Ekschmitt, a good organizer, proposed a project for the European
Commission on effects of climate change on nematode communities of European
grasslands. That project created more international contacts. Resulting from
these contacts, and interest in his work, Bongers has visited Russia, Poland,
the Czech and Slovak Republic, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Guadeloupe, Belgium,
France, Bulgaria, Greece, Ivory Coast, England, Sweden, Senegal, and Costa Rica.
Beyond his passion for nematodes and soil ecology, Tom Bongers is an avid
collector of antiquarian books. Those interests are described here in his own
words (slightly paraphrased). "My main interest are real antiquarian books
(prior to 1800), especially natural science and the relation between religion
and science, how they both slowly separated, and the development of science. I
have also many biographies about scientists: van Leeuwenhoek, Swammerdam,
Wallace, von Humbold, Darwin and, of course, de Man. It is a pity that the
biography of De Man is in Dutch. He was also a normal being: afraid for dogs and
lightning. He never married, his sister took care for him so that he could work
at home. At the Smithsonian, crustacea-researchers asked me whether I had ever
heard of one of the most important Crustacealogist… De Man. I was surprised.
Later I learned that he published more about Crustacea than about nematodes!!!!
I also have the original works of De Buffon. He was an opponent of Linnaeus.
That is why Linnaeus named the common toad (who had a bad reputation at that
time) after de Buffon: Bufo bufo!"
"Two years ago we where in Budapest for holidays. In the window of an
antiquarian bookshop I saw three volumes in parchment, undamaged (1760) about
history (slaves, market-rights, early history) in Dutch. Unfortunately the shop
owner had also holidays. Last year I was in Hungary again so could visit the
bookshop, they still were there!! . Now they are with me in Wageningen."
Until 2007, Tom Bongers was a member of the Department of Nematology at
Wageningen University. He conducted research in the areas of soil ecology and
relationships among nematodes. He is proud to have contributed to the
identification skills and careers of many former students who became established
as soil ecologists and nematologists. Those former students include Wim van der
Putten, Christien Ettema, Bryan
Griffiths, Christoph Emmerling, Hiroaki
Okada, Cecile Villeneuve, Oleksandr Holovachov, Ron de Goede, Gerard
Korthals.
Tom Bongers retired from Wageningen University in 2007, After retirement, he
continued to teach the international Nemtode Identification course until 2013.
Since 2014, the course has been taught by Gerard Korthals and Roel Wagenaar.
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responsibility
was for extraction of nematodes from soil. Later, he analyzed nematode samples
to provide advice to farmers, which initiated his true interest in nematodes.
During this period he attended evening classes to become certified as a
"Botanical Analyst". He worked at the laboratory for five years, interrupted by
a period of military service. Motivated to pursue his interests in Nematology,
he consulted Bert Schoemaker, head of the Nematology Department in Oosterbeek.
Schoemaker suggested that he write to Dr. Michael Oostenbrink, head of the Nematology Section of the Plant Protection Service in Wageningen and docent of
Nematology at Wageningen University. Oostenbrink offered him a job at the Plant
Protection Service, where the work was less routine than at Oosterbeek.