Soil, Water and Sustainability Group

The Soil, Water and Sustainability Research Group is a collective of collaborating academics, students and professionals whose research addresses the basic scientific information required for food production, forest products and maintaining the integrity of ecological systems for sustaining the resource base. The focus is on the physical and biological environment and the integrated relationship between land and water systems. An emphasis is placed on improving professional and technical communications to stakeholders in these areas.

Research

Research Topics

Soil Physics & Biometeorology

• Greenhourse (GHG) emissions from high-value agricultural production systems in British Columbia
• Carbon and energy balance of pre- to post-harvest forests
• Energy, water and carbon balance of agricultural and forest ecosystems

Soil Biology

• Soil microbial diversity and function in forest ecosystems
• Plant-mycorrhiza-soil interactions and forest resilience to climate change

Innovations in Soil Teaching

• Application of information technology in soil science education

Soil Quality & Sustainability

• Bioavailability assessment of trace metal contaminants in urban soils
• Land use impacts on soil quality of rangelands and forests
• Organic matter and nitrogen dynamics in reclaimed soils

Soil-Water Systems

• Effects of weathering on the surface properties of minerals
• Phosphorus transformations in soils

Research Groups:

• Belowground Ecosystems Group
• Biometeorology Group
• Sustainable Agricultural Landscapes

Academic Programs

Undergraduate:

• BSc in Applied Biology (Applied Plant and Soil Sciences Major): This major integrates diverse topics in soil-water-plant-atmosphere systems with a focus on the science underpinning crop production and ecosystem management.

Graduate:

• MSc and PhD in Soil Science (Research-based): A collaboration between the Faculty of Land and Food Systems and Faculty of Forestry, the inter-faculty Soil Science Graduate Program offers opportunities for advanced study and research leading to MSc and PhD degrees. Students are registered in the Faculty of Graduate Studies through either the Faculty of Land and Food Systems or Faculty of Forestry, depending upon their research interests. Areas of study include biometeorology, forest nutrition and nutrient cycling, mycorrhizal ecology, soil biology, soil quality and fertility, soil-plant interactions, ecosystem services, land and water systems.
• Professional Masters in Land and Water Systems (MLWS): The goal of the innovative Master of Land and Water Systems program is to offer a professional degree which will serve both practicing resource managers and recent graduates from cognate undergraduate academic programs, the necessary credentials to address the emerging concerns of land and water resources conservation and management.

Facilities

The Soil and Water Sustainability Group has access to diversity of facilities and equipment across the University of British Columbia campus that enables a wide range of soil and water analysis. The group maintains a number of laboratories in the MacMillan building specifically equipped to analyze the physical and chemical properties of soil and water and greenhouse gas fluxes. There are a number of micrometeorological and greenhouse gas flux resources available in the geography department. In the Forest Sciences Centre there are a number of laboratories specializing in the analysis of soil biological components involving molecular, stable isotopes, and microscopy techniques.

People