My Research
Overview
My current research interests concern key aspects of the terrestrial environment and, in particular, soil organic matter (SOM), the nature of which is still not wholly understood by the scientific community despite many years of study. Intimately related with this topic is the impact that plants, animals and humans have on the chemistry of the soil environment and how an understanding of the resultant changes can be used to better manage the Earth's resources, investigate the history of soils and neutralise or prevent the effects of pollution in the natural environment. Much progress in these areas has been hampered to date by the limitations of analytical methodologies available. Only with the relatively recent introduction of new techniques, based on organic and compound specific stable isotope ratio mass spectrometry, has it been possible to start probing the complex, dynamic and living 'black box' that constitutes soil. Hence, another aspect of my research interests is the continued development and refinement of analytical methodologies.
Soil acts as a sink for organic detritus and supports a remarkably diverse population of macrofauna (collembola, worms, mites etc.) and microorganisms (bacteria, actinomycetes, fungi, algae and protazoa etc.) that mediate important links in the major elemental cycles, i.e. carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and sulfur. Water from overland precipitation will either pass through or over soil and hence the composition of solutes will be greatly affected by the chemical nature of the corresponding soil(s). Pollutants may be partially controlled through complexing/bonding mechanisms within the soil matrix or by being rendered innocuous through chemical degradation. Furthermore, compounds imobilised within the soil matrix may be utilised to determine processess relating to recent and ancient human activity. Above all, soil cannot be considered in isolation, but rather as part of a highly interactive biotic and abiotic complex influenced directly by climate, geology, plants and animals.
In addtion, I am also interested in aspects of plant phytochemistry and the digestive physiologies of ancient mammals.
