Forecasting soil conditions. Not knowing where and how soil responds to climate change and human intervention compromises food, water, climate and energy security. Currently there is a lack of soil process knowledge and data infrastructure collectively causing significant uncertainty and risk in the assessments of key threats to soil. The project devises a transformational digital soil model to forecast where and how soil pH and carbon will change in New South Wales. Tested on sites within Au ....Forecasting soil conditions. Not knowing where and how soil responds to climate change and human intervention compromises food, water, climate and energy security. Currently there is a lack of soil process knowledge and data infrastructure collectively causing significant uncertainty and risk in the assessments of key threats to soil. The project devises a transformational digital soil model to forecast where and how soil pH and carbon will change in New South Wales. Tested on sites within Australia, the model will give insight on the drivers of change and will provide a unique analysis of the effect of climate change and land management on the dynamics of soil.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE200101116
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$378,616.00
Summary
Bringing granular mechanics to prevent fluid-driven soil erosion problems. This project aims to investigate the erosive behaviour of soils by exploring the interaction between evolving topography and overland water flow. It expects to generate new knowledge about the dominant granular mechanisms under different flow conditions using innovative high-speed X-ray imaging and detailed numerical simulations. Anticipated outcomes include a simple mathematical framework that takes these important facto ....Bringing granular mechanics to prevent fluid-driven soil erosion problems. This project aims to investigate the erosive behaviour of soils by exploring the interaction between evolving topography and overland water flow. It expects to generate new knowledge about the dominant granular mechanisms under different flow conditions using innovative high-speed X-ray imaging and detailed numerical simulations. Anticipated outcomes include a simple mathematical framework that takes these important factors into account, which will bridge geomechanics and fluid mechanics to provide valuable insight into long-term erosion and deposition rates. This should provide significant benefit by enhancing our ability to predict, and therefore prevent, intense soil loss or problematic build-up of sediment.Read moreRead less
Pyrogenic carbon sequestration in Australian soils. Pyrogenic Carbon ('charcoal') is a poorly understood component of the global carbon cycle, important because it is resistant to degradation and hence has potential soil carbon sequestration benefits. This project applies a new technique (hydrogen pyrolysis), in combination with spectroscopic techniques, to quantify charcoal in a pan-Australian soil sample set, collected using uniform stratified sampling and preparation protocols. This will ena ....Pyrogenic carbon sequestration in Australian soils. Pyrogenic Carbon ('charcoal') is a poorly understood component of the global carbon cycle, important because it is resistant to degradation and hence has potential soil carbon sequestration benefits. This project applies a new technique (hydrogen pyrolysis), in combination with spectroscopic techniques, to quantify charcoal in a pan-Australian soil sample set, collected using uniform stratified sampling and preparation protocols. This will enable the mapping of soil charcoal stocks in relation to environmental and soil variables across Australia. The results will enable understanding of the controls on charcoal sequestration potential in Australian soils and contribute to efforts to quantify soil charcoal stocks and dynamics globally.Read moreRead less
Synergising pedodiversity and biodiversity to secure soil functionality. This project aims to understand the coupling between soil physical, chemical and biological diversity at a range of scales and land uses across New South Wales and its relationship with soil functioning. Soil diversity with its coupled biodiversity is crucial for conservation of sustainable ecosystems. Soil diversity varies on a continuum from microbial habitats to elds, catchments and regions. This project will enhance ou ....Synergising pedodiversity and biodiversity to secure soil functionality. This project aims to understand the coupling between soil physical, chemical and biological diversity at a range of scales and land uses across New South Wales and its relationship with soil functioning. Soil diversity with its coupled biodiversity is crucial for conservation of sustainable ecosystems. Soil diversity varies on a continuum from microbial habitats to elds, catchments and regions. This project will enhance our ability to understand the drivers of soil change through time, critical for minimising loss of biodiversity, achieving food and soil security and inferring effects of climate change.Read moreRead less
Phosphorus cycling and adaptation of soil microbes to P availability . This project aims to determine how soil microbial communities adapt to phosphorus availability, and how the breakdown of microbial biomass sustains phosphorus demand. Using some of the most globally P-impoverished soils, the project expects to uncover how cellular composition of microbial populations is shaped by phosphorus availability, and feedbacks between cellular composition of microbes and phosphorus availability. Expec ....Phosphorus cycling and adaptation of soil microbes to P availability . This project aims to determine how soil microbial communities adapt to phosphorus availability, and how the breakdown of microbial biomass sustains phosphorus demand. Using some of the most globally P-impoverished soils, the project expects to uncover how cellular composition of microbial populations is shaped by phosphorus availability, and feedbacks between cellular composition of microbes and phosphorus availability. Expected outcomes include better understanding of factors determining phosphorus availability, and a new analytical toolkit for tracing pools and fluxes of organic P in soils. Overall, these should provide significant benefit to the global effort in understanding how phosphorus shapes soil function.Read moreRead less
Hybrid Pile-Drain System to Stabilise Railways Built on Soft Soils. Australian coastal soils often pose significant challenges in the design and construction of railways. The project aims to develop a novel hybrid system of pipe piles & prefabricated vertical drains installed to prevent soft foundation soil (subgrade) from excessive yielding under prolonged cyclic loading by heavy-haul trains. Using large-scale physical model simulations and field trials supported by numerical analysis of soil-p ....Hybrid Pile-Drain System to Stabilise Railways Built on Soft Soils. Australian coastal soils often pose significant challenges in the design and construction of railways. The project aims to develop a novel hybrid system of pipe piles & prefabricated vertical drains installed to prevent soft foundation soil (subgrade) from excessive yielding under prolonged cyclic loading by heavy-haul trains. Using large-scale physical model simulations and field trials supported by numerical analysis of soil-pile-drain interaction mechanisms, this innovative concept will be examined to establish a user-friendly design methodology. For rail operators, the outcomes will generate substantially reduced maintenance costs, while extending the longevity of track infrastructure to ensure faster and heavier trains of the future. Read moreRead less
Can eco-evolutionary theories explain outcomes of microbiome coalescence . Environmental microbial communities are among the most abundant and diverse natural communities, responsible for many ecologically and economically important ecosystem functions, including primary productivity and climate regulation. This project aims to identify the biotic and abiotic factors that regulate community and functional outcomes of microbiome coalescence (the mixing of two different communities) caused by natu ....Can eco-evolutionary theories explain outcomes of microbiome coalescence . Environmental microbial communities are among the most abundant and diverse natural communities, responsible for many ecologically and economically important ecosystem functions, including primary productivity and climate regulation. This project aims to identify the biotic and abiotic factors that regulate community and functional outcomes of microbiome coalescence (the mixing of two different communities) caused by natural and anthropogenic activities. The outcomes will provide a unifying ecological framework to predict variation in microbiomes across different scales, ecosystem types and disturbances, and will generate critical knowledge for the development of effective microbiome products, a rapidly growing industryRead moreRead less
A novel granular stress sensor for soil exploration. The project aims to develop a novel way to measure the state of soils and improve the perception of soft ground robots by combining advances in sensor development with granular physics. The project expects to produce new insights in geotechnical engineering by utilising innovative sensors compliant with the surrounding medium, thus improving measurements across broader deformation conditions than existing technologies. Expected outcomes includ ....A novel granular stress sensor for soil exploration. The project aims to develop a novel way to measure the state of soils and improve the perception of soft ground robots by combining advances in sensor development with granular physics. The project expects to produce new insights in geotechnical engineering by utilising innovative sensors compliant with the surrounding medium, thus improving measurements across broader deformation conditions than existing technologies. Expected outcomes include an increased ability to prevent soil failures by utilising these sensors to monitor stress levels underground. This should provide significant benefits for saving critical infrastructure from environmental and geotechnical failures, including landslides, tunnel collapses, and tailings dam damages.Read moreRead less
Australian clays as raw materials of slow-release phosphate fertiliser. Phosphorus (P) fertiliser input in Australia is a significant problem for its inefficient plant uptake, leaching to natural water bodies and stocking of insoluble P in soil. The project aims to develop activated clays using Australian raw clay minerals to formulate effective slow-release phosphate (P) fertilisers (SRF) and delivery material for P-solubilising bacteria. Composite of these will supply P controllably even amid ....Australian clays as raw materials of slow-release phosphate fertiliser. Phosphorus (P) fertiliser input in Australia is a significant problem for its inefficient plant uptake, leaching to natural water bodies and stocking of insoluble P in soil. The project aims to develop activated clays using Australian raw clay minerals to formulate effective slow-release phosphate (P) fertilisers (SRF) and delivery material for P-solubilising bacteria. Composite of these will supply P controllably even amid environmental fluctuations but when a plant needs as it grows. Development of multifunctional, nontoxic and plant growth-driven P fertiliser would benefit improve soil fertility in a sustainable way where efficiency of P input is maximised with a minimised environmental burden.Read moreRead less
Multitrophic interactions drive diversity-ecosystem function relationships. Soil communities, among the most abundant and diverse in nature are responsible for many critical ecosystem functions, including nutrient cycling and climate regulation. This project will determine whether consideration and quantification of interactions between different biotic communities – specifically among plants, soil microbes and animals, within and across trophic levels - can address underlying shortcomings in pr ....Multitrophic interactions drive diversity-ecosystem function relationships. Soil communities, among the most abundant and diverse in nature are responsible for many critical ecosystem functions, including nutrient cycling and climate regulation. This project will determine whether consideration and quantification of interactions between different biotic communities – specifically among plants, soil microbes and animals, within and across trophic levels - can address underlying shortcomings in predictions from classical biodiversity-ecosystem function theory. By advancing understanding of biological complexity and its impacts on ecosystem functions, the project will provide a unifying framework for understanding variation in ecosystem functions across scales, ecosystem types and multiple environmental disturbances.Read moreRead less