Chris Fyfe

By focusing on the central role of the soil-dwelling nematode community in pastoral farming systems of the New England bioregion in Australia, Chris’ study aims to discover how restoring native vegetation to farming systems, in the form of diverse, native tree belt plantings, may enhance soil biodiversity and functioning within adjacent pastures and at a landuse scale.
 
Tree belts provide a tool for buffering climate extremes while increasing water retention in a drying landscape; an opportunity for carbon capture in soils and vegetation as a result of the land use change; and can increase biodiversity across our farming landscapes. This project will address a gap in the literature regarding tree belt effects on soil biodiversity and function, and further, how this relates to nutrient cycling and pasture production. By quantifying how native tree-belts may stimulate and protect soil biodiversity, as indicated by nematode community ecology, it will continue the development of rules-of-thumb for tree belt and landscape design.