Soil microbial ecology
I study how plant–microbe interactions regulate the fate of nitrogen in agroecosystems, from microbial nitrogen transformations to the balance between nitrogen losses to the environment and plant nitrogen acquisition.
As climate warming intensifies, I am particularly interested in how microbial functional guilds respond to plant traits, environmental conditions and ecological history, and whether these responses can sustain nitrogen retention, plant nutrition and the resilience of soil–plant systems.
How do nitrifiers, denitrifiers and other functional guilds regulate nitrogen retention and losses from soil?
How do plant genotype, development and root-derived compounds reshape rhizosphere nitrification and nitrogen availability for plants?
How do warming, management and ecological history alter microbial resistance, recovery and the capacity of soil–plant systems to maintain function?
Links variation in DMPP efficacy across soils to ecological differentiation between ammonia-oxidising archaea and bacteria.
Examines how ecological differentiation among nitrifiers and N₂O-reducing guilds contributes to soil-dependent responses to nitrification inhibitors.
Explores how long-term fertilisation reshapes interactions among bacterial life-history strategies and soil nematode trophic groups.