Department of Soil and Physical Sciences

 

The Department of Soil and Physical Sciences has responsibility for the delivery of all undergraduate and postgraduate soil-related subjects, and many physical science subjects.

The range of research being undertaken is extensive but in recent years has increasingly focused on environmental issues, especially soil's role and influence on water and air quality.

Recent Submissions

  • Regulation of N₂O emissions from acid organic soil drained for agriculture 

    Taghizadeh-Toosi, A.; Elsgaard, L.; Clough, Timothy J.; Labouriau, R.; Ernstsen, V.; Petersen, S. O. (Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union, 2019-11-29)
    Organic soils drained for crop production or grazing land are agroecosystems with potentially high but variable emissions of nitrous oxide (N₂O). The present study investigated the regulation of N₂O emissions in a raised ...

  • Direct exports of phosphorus from fertilizers applied to grazed pastures 

    Nash, D. M.; McDowell, Richard; Condron, Leo M.; McLaughlin, M. J. (Crop Science Society of America with the American Society of Agronomy and the Soil Science Society of America, 2019-08-21)
    Since its discovery in 1669, phosphorus (P) in the form of fertilizer has become an essential input for many agroecosystems. By introducing a concentrated P source, fertilizers increase short-term P export potential soon ...

  • Inhibition of ammonia oxidisers to control nitrification rate under simulated winter dairy forage grazing conditions: An incubation study 

    Hill, Anne-Maree; Di, Hong J.; Cameron, Keith C.; Podolyan, Andriy (Fertilizer and Lime Research CentreMassey University, 2013)
    The microbial process of nitrification plays a key role within the soil nitrogen cycle. Nitrification is the process where ammonia is oxidised to nitrite and then to nitrate and this process can have major negative ...

  • Environmental parameters affecting the concentration of iodine in New Zealand pasture 

    Jensen, Hayley; Orth, B.; Reiser, R.; Bürge, D.; Lehto, Niklas; Almond, Peter C.; Gaw, S.; Thomson, B.; Lilburne, L.; Robinson, Brett (American Society of Agronomy, Crop Science Society of America & Soil Science of America, 2019-08-21)
    Iodine (I) is an essential trace element commonly deficient in agricultural systems. Whereas there is much information on I in food crops, there is a lacuna of knowledge on the environmental factors that affect pasture I ...

  • Impact of nitrogen compounds on fungal and bacterial contributions to codenitrification in a pasture soil 

    Rex, David; Clough, Timothy J.; Richards, K. G.; Condron, Leo M.; de Klein, C. A. M.; Morales, S. E.; Lanigan, G. J. (Springer Nature, 2019-09-16)
    Ruminant urine patches on grazed grassland are a significant source of agricultural nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions. Of the many biotic and abiotic N₂O production mechanisms initiated following urine-urea deposition, ...

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