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LANDMARK 2016
Breaking:
Antarctic soil fungi
Professor David Hopkins, Dean
of the School of Agriculture, Food
and Environment and Professor of
Soils, contributed to a significant
journal article published in
Nature
Climate Change
, reporting a direct
relationship between temperature and
the diversity of Antarctic soil fungi.
Remote and covered by ice for much of
the year, the Antarctic Peninsula is home
to hidden and dynamic communities of
microbes. During the second half of the
20th century, surface air temperatures
along the Antarctic Peninsula rose by up
to 2.8°C. Among the numerous physical
manifestations of this warming, an
increase in plant growth was observed.
This new study, funded by the Natural
Environment Research Council and the
University of Queensland, investigated
potential changes in a less apparent
group of organisms; soil fungi.
It suggests that there could be a rise
of up to 27% in the diversity of fungi in
Antarctic soils by 2100 if temperatures
increase by a similar amount again.
Soils at the ends
of the earth
Professor David Hopkins gave his inaugural
lecture (December 2015) on the soil
processes which drive key environmental
processes; including soil fertility in
agriculture and the carbon balance in the
atmosphere. Professor Hopkins considered
soils in extreme environments, in particular
the hot deserts and cold deserts, and
how these systems and the organisms
in them adapt and respond to changes
in environment and climate conditions.
The lecture concluded with a quote from
Sir George Stapledon, a distinguished
member of staff who taught at the Royal
Agricultural College at the turn of the
20th century: “The soil must be man’s
most treasured possession; so he who
tends the soil wisely and with care is
assuredly the foremost among men.”
Research publication
for student
Daisy Irons, third year BSc (Hons)
Agriculture student, spent her 20-week
work placement with researchers in the
soil science department at Rothamsted
Research, the world’s oldest and most
prestigious agricultural research institute.
Daisy was involved in a project investigating
soil management effects on earthworm
ecology and their contributions to soil
structure. She contributed to a peer-
reviewed research publication ‘Lumbricus
terrestris abundance is not enhanced
after three years of compost amendments
on a reduced tillage wheat cultivation
conversion’ in
Applied Soil Ecology
.
2015
International
Year of Soils
“The soil must be man’s most
treasured possession; so he who
tends the soil wisely and with care
is assuredly the foremost among
men.”
Sir George Stapledon
Daisy Irons,
agriculture student