Greenhouse Gas and Climate Change

The Greenhous Gas and Climate Change Group measures, models and mitigates greenhouse gas (N₂O, CO₂ and CH₄) emissions from diverse agricultural systems.

Sustainable agricultural intensification is the key to satisfying growing food demand without further degrading our natural environments and ecosystems. Our group recognises the importance of accurate quantification of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions and the urgency of their effective mitigation.

We adopt state-of-the-art micrometeorological techniques to conduct real-time, continuous measurement of greenhouse gas emissions; the latest fertiliser technologies to decrease N₂O emissions to the environment; and advanced chemical engineering to optimise the use of brown/black coal in decreasing NH₃ volatilisation from intensive animal feedlots.

We apply agroecosystem process-based modelling to identify the best N management practices for diverse growing regions in Australia to achieve sustainable production under current and future climates. Our work also covers the mitigation strategies for C losses from land use change and the soil-plant interaction of C and N dynamics under elevated atmospheric CO₂.

The Soils and Environment research group seeks to understand the impacts of agricultural management on soil processes and develop technology to improve agricultural sustainability.

We carry out a range of fundamental and applied research with the aim to help policy makers, industry partners and farmers make evidence-based decisions. Current research strengths and activities include:

• Nutrient cycling in agro-ecosystems;
• Measuring, modelling and mitigating air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, particularly intensive animal production system;
• Novel fertiliser technologies;
• Agro-ecosystem modelling and decisions support tools for efficient fertilisers use;
• Reuse and recycling of agricultural and urban wastes;
• Big data (data mining): Green index, nitrogen footprint, decision support systems for fertiliser use;
• Soil and environmental microbiomes;
• Transmission of antibiotic resistance genes in agro-ecosystems;
• Soil microbial evolution and biogeography.

We quantify the emissions of direct and indirect greenhouse gases from various agricultural systems, including dairy pasture, grain cropping, vegetable production and intensive feedlot systems, as well as ammonia deposition surrounding intensive feedlots. We apply advanced micrometeorological techniques using open- and closed- path Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, open-path lasers, quantum cascade lasers etc. for field (paddock) scale measurements. We have developed an internationally acclaimed, spatially-referenced and process-based water and nitrogen management model (WNMM) for broadacre and intensive agricultural systems, and a Decision Support System for optimum irrigation and fertiliser N application. We also examine the effectiveness of urease and nitrification inhibitors, and controlled release fertilisers in decreasing NH₃ and N₂O emissions from crop and pasture systems, whereas lignite and modified black coal in minimising NH₃ emission from intensive animal production systems.