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Prof Iain Young

Iain Young

Head of School, Professor of Environmental Biophysics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, School of Environmental and Rural Sciences

Contact

Email:
Room: Natural Resources Building (W55)
Phone: 02 6773 2323 (or +61 2 6773 2323 overseas)
Fax: 02 6772 2769

Professor of Environmental Biophysics

General Information

I’m interested primarily in soil systems. Soil is the most complicated biomaterial on the planet and sustains all terrestrial life. If the Earth had a pulse it's source would be in the soil. Despite this we constantly abuse it and actually know very little about how it operates. It’s an incredibly complex, and thus interesting, system to work in. If we tried to figure out how water flowed through space in a volume of soil the size of a sugar cube, we’d need a supercomputer to work out all the necessary calculations. Here's a few interesting and important facts about soil:

  • In a handful of fertile soil there are more individual organisms than the total number of human beings that have ever existed.
  • Yet, due to the inherently large surface area of soil, only 1x10-5% of the total surface area is covered by microbes.
  • All soil microbes are aquatic and rely on thin microfilms of water for their survival.
  • There is more biodiversity found below ground than anywhere else.
  • If you were to replace all the functions of soil by other means it would cost in excess of $100 Trillion p.a.
  • Large dust storms from eroding Chinese soils travel across the world altering local weather patterns, influencing the development of coral reefs etc.
  • Soil acts as an environmental scrubber for harmful chemicals and organisms, stopping them reaching waterways and the atmosphere.

Research Interests

My research interest can be summarised into a number of areas:

  • Biophysics of soil ecosystems
  • Architecture and function of biomaterials
  • X-ray tomography
  • Sensory Ecology of organisms
  • Global change and land use management
  • Biophysics of Sports Turf

Recent Consulting and Professional Activities

  • President of the Australian Council of the Deans of Agriculture
  • Chair of the Australian and Learning Teaching Council Soil Project Reference
    Group
  • Co-Leader of Terrestrial Carbon initiative in the Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society (SAGES) (2006 – 2009) http://www.sages.ac.uk
  • Member of the EPSRC College (2001 – present)
  • Member of the Advanced Fellowships NERC Life Science Interface Panel (2005-2007)
  • Member of NERC College (2003 - present)
  • Panel member of NERC Fellowship Panel (2005)
  • Panel Member of NERC Ecology Panel (2005)
  • Panel Member for Rural Environment and Land-Use Scoping (RELU) studies (2004)
  • Director of Sensation Science Centre (2001 – 2007) http://www.sensation.org.uk/
  • Editor in Chief: Soil & Tillage Research (2007 – 2008)
  • Associate Editor in Chief: Pedosphere (2006 - present)
  • Consultant to industry on micro-tomography applications to porous materials
  • Scientific Director of the Abertay Centre for the Environment (ACE: http://www.ace.abertay.ac.uk/)
  • Collaborative Access Partner at the Advanced Photon Source, University of Chicago, US. (2003-present).
  • Grant Assessor for BBSRC, NERC & EPSRC grant applications.
  • Assessor for various overseas funding bodies, including; Marsden Fund (NZ), NSF (USA), DAAD (Germany), EU.

Invited Keynote Lectures (2003 – present)

  • 33rd International Geoscience Conference, Oslo (2008)
  • The NSF/EPSRC Funded (Boston, MIT) Soil Bioengineering workshop (2007)
  • Rhisophere 2 (Montpellier, France) (2007)
  • International Soil Tillage Meeting in Kiel, Germany (2006)
  • International Grassland Conference (Oxford) (2005)
  • National Academy (Washington) Frontiers in Soil Science Meeting (2005)
  • 2005 EU Biorhizo & Consider workshop
  • 2005 Institute of Physics, Soil-Water physics
  • 2005 International Grassland Congress, Oxford
  • International Congress of Mycorrhiza (Montreal, Canada) (2004)
  • Soil Systems Research at Aberdeen University (2004)
  • Advances in Nematology Linnaean Society, London (2004)
  • Soil Quality programme at Wageningen, (2003)
  • British Society of Protozology, Linnaean Society (2003)

National & International Collaborations

  • University of Western Australia : Prof Tony O’Donnell– Land Management and biophysics
  • Rothamsted: Dr Richard Whalley – Soil structure and Nitrous Oxide emissions
  • IGER: Dr Paul Schofield – Soil structure and Nitrous Oxide Emissions
  • Loughborough University: Dr Rupert Soar – Architecture Namibian termite mounds
  • ADAS: Prof Bryan Chambers - Quantifying soil quality.
  • University of St Andrews/James Cook University, Australia (from 2009): Prof Mike Bird – Black carbon
  • Plymouth University: Dr Peter Mathews – Simulation of soil structure
  • University of Chicago: Dr Mark Rivers – Synchrotron radiation and soil structure analysis
  • HortScience, NZ: Prof Brent Clothier – Impact of soil structure on gaseous emissions.
  • University of Kiel, Germany: Prof Rainer Horn – Soil biophysics
  • University of California, Davies: Dr Jason DeJong - Microbially induced calcite in soil systems.
  • Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan : Prof Al Smucker – Microtomography and soil structure.
  • Risø Institute, Denmark: Prof Iver Jackobsen – Fungal dynamics in micro-structures.
  • University of Sydney (from 2009): Prof John Crawford - Soil Systems Research

Published Papers

2010:

  1. Gregory AS, Bird NRA, Whalley WR, Matthews GP, Young IM (2010). Deformation and shrinkage effects on the soil water release curve. Soil Science Society of America Journal 74, 1104-1112.
  2. Wu K, Nunan N, Ritz K, Crawford JW and Young IM (2010). 3D Multiscale modelling of microbial spatial distribution incorporating macro-soil structure. Transport in Porous Media (in press).
  3. Bhogal A, Nicholson FA, Young IM, Whitmore AP, Sturrock C and Chambers BJ (2010). Effects of recent and accumulated livestock manure carbon additions on soil fertility. European Journal of Soil Science (in press).
  4. Akhtar MJ, Young IM, Irvine RJ and Sturrock C. (2010). Assessing nitrogen supply potential and influence of growth of lettuce and Amaranthus of different aged composts. Pakistani Journal of Botany, 42, 527-536.

 

2009:

  1. Deurer M, Grinev D, Young IM, Clothier BE, Muller K (2009). The impact of soil carbon management on soil macro-pore structure and comparison of two apple orchard systems in NZ. European Journal of Soil Science, 60, 945-955.
  2. Gregory, P.J., Bengough, A.G., Grinev, D., Schmidt, S., Thomas, W.T.B., Wojciechowski, T., Young, I.M. 2009. Root phenomics of crops –opportunities and challenges. Functional Plant Biology 36, 922-929.
  3. Hallett PD, Feeney DS, Bengough AG, Rillig MC, Scrimgeour CM, Young IM (2009). Disentangling the impact of AM fungi versus roots on soil structure and water transport. Plant Soil, 314: 183-196 [doi: 10.1007/s11104-008-9717-y].
  4. Young IM, Crawford JW, Nunan N, Otten W, & Spiers A (2009). Microbial Distribution in Soils: Physics and Scaling. In Donald L Sparks (ed). Advances in Agronomy, Vol 100. Burlington: Academic Press, 2008, pp.81-121. ISBN: 978-0-12-374361-9.
  5. Hindinger P, Bengough AG, Vetterlein D, Young IM (2009). Rhisophere: biophysics, biogeochemistry and ecological relevance. (in press – December 2008).
  6. Hallett PD, Feeney D, Bengough AG, Rillig MC, Scrimgeour CM, Young IM (2009). Disentangling the impact of AM fungi versus roots on soil structure and water transport. Plant & Soil [doi: 10.1007/s11104-008-9717-y].


2008:

  1. Hapca S, Crawford JW & Young IM (2008).  Anomalous diffusion of heterogeneous populations characterised by normal diffusion at the individual level.  Journal of the Royal Society Interface (in press).
  2. Hinsinger P, Bengough AG, Vetterlein D, Young IM (2008). Rhizosphere: biophysics, biogeochemistry and ecological relevance (in press). To be Published by Spinger.
  3. Deacon LJ, Grinev DV, Crawford JW, Harris J, Ritz K & Young IM (2008).  Simultaneous preservation of soil structural properties and phospholipid profiles: A comparison of three drying techniques. Pedosphere, 18, 284–287.
  4. Bird MI, Ascough PL, Young IM, Wood CV (2008). X-ray microtomographic imaging of charcoal. Journal of Archaeological Sciences, 35, 2698–2706 [doi:10.1016/j.jas.2008.04.018].
  5. Hallett PD, Feeney D, Bengough AG, Rillig MC, Scrimgeour CM, Young IM (2008). Disentangling the impact of AM fungi versus roots on soil structure and water transport. Plant & Soil [doi: 10.1007/s11104-008-9717-y].
  6. Deeks LK, Bengough AG, Sutter MI, Young IM, Zhang XX (2008). Characterisation of flow paths and saturated conductivity in a soil block in relation to chloride breakthrough. Journal of Hydrology, 348, 431-441. [doi:10.1016/j.jhydrol.2007.10.025]   
  7. Zhang XX, Crawford JW, Young IM (2008). Does pore water velocity affect the reaction rates of adsorptive solute transport in soils? Demonstration with pore-scale modelling. Advances in Water Resources, 31, 425–437 [doi:10.1016/j.advwatres.2007.09.005]


2007:

  1. Hapca S, Crawford JW, Rae R, Wilson M, Young IM (2007). Movement of the parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita in the presence of mucus from the host slug Deroceras reticulatum, Biological Control, [doi: 10.1016/j.biocontrol.2007.01.005].
  2. O'Donnell AG, Young IM, Rushton SP, Shirley MD & Crawford JW (2007). Visualization, and prediction in soil microbiology. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 689-699.  [doi:10.1038/nrmicro1714].
  3. Hapca S, Crawford J, MacMillan K, Wilson MJ & Young IM (2007). Modelling nematode movement using time-fractional dynamics.  Journal of Theoretical Biology, 248, 212-224. [doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2007.05.002].
  4. Hapca S, Budha P, Crawford JW & Young IM (2007). Movement of the nematode, Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita, in a structurally heterogeneous environment. Nematology, 9, 731-738.
  5. Johnson, SN, Zhang X, Crawford, JW, Gregory PJ, & Young IM (2007). Egg hatching and survival time of soil-dwelling insect larvae: a partial differential equation model and experimental validation. Ecological Modelling, 202, 493-502.
  6. Zhang X, Johnson SN, Crawford JW, Gregory PJ & Young IM (2007). A general random walk model for the leptokurtic distribution of organism movement: theory and application. Ecological Modelling, 200, 79-88.
  7. Blair JM, Falconer RE, Milne AC, Young IM & Crawford JW (2007). Modeling three-dimensional microstructure in heterogeneous media. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 71, 1807-1812.


2006:

  1. Young et al., 2006. Comment on Zhao et al., (2005) “Does Ergosterol concentration provide a reliable estimate of soil fungal biomass?” Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 38, 1500-1501.
  2. Feeney, D., Crawford, J.W., Daniell, T.J., Hallett, P.D., Nunan, N., Ritz, K., Rivers, M. and Young, I.M. (2006). 3D micro-organisation of the soil-root-microbe system. Microbial Ecology, 52, 151-158.
  3. Zhang X, Johnson SN, Gregory PJ, Crawford JW, Young IM, Murray PJ, Jarvis SC. Modelling the movement and survival of the root-feeding clover weevil, Sitona lepidus, in the root-zone of white clover. Ecological Modelling, 190, 133-146. [doi:10.1016/j.ecolmodel.2005.01.063] 
  4. Feeney DS, Hallett PD, Rodger S, Bengough AG, White NA & Young IM (2006). Impact of fungal and bacterial biocides on microbial induced water repellency in arable soil. Geoderma, 135, 72-80 [doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2005.11.007]  
  5. Wu K, Van Dijke MIJ, Couples GD, Jiangz, MA J, Sorbie KS, Crawford JW, Young IM, & Zhang XX. 3D Stochastic Modelling of Heterogeneous Porous Media – Applications to Reservoir Rocks (2006). Transport in Porous Media, 65: 443–467. [doi 10.1007/s11242-006-0006-z]
  6. Johnson SN, Zhang X, Crawford JW, Gregory PJ, Hix NJ, Jarvis SC Murray PJ & Young IM (2006). Effects of CO2 on the searching behaviour of the root-feeding clover weevil. Bulletin of Entomological Research, 96, 361-366.
  7. Harris K, Young IM , Gilligan CA , Otten W, Ritz K (2006). Effect of bulk density on the spatial organisation of the fungus Rhizoctonia solani in soil. FEMS Mivrobiology Ecology, 44, 45-56. [doi: 10.1111/j.1574-6941.2003.tb01089.x].
  8. Nunan N, Ritz K, Rivers M, Feeney DS & Young IM (2006). Investigating microbial micro-habitat structure using X-ray computed tomography. Geoderma, 133, 398-407 [doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2005.08.004].
  9. MacMillan K, Blok V, Young IM, Crawford J, Wilson MJ (2006). Quantification of the slug parasitic nematode Phasmarhabditis hermaphrodita from soil samples using real time qPCR. International Journal for Parasitology, 36, 1453–1461 [doi:10.1016/j.ijpara.2006.08.005].


2005:

  1. Crawford JW, Harris JA, Ritz K & Young IM (2005). Towards and evolutionary ecology of life in soil. TRENDS in Ecology and Evolution, 20, 81-87.
  2. Humphris SN, Bengough AG, Griffiths BS, Kilham, BS, Rodger S, Stubbs V, Valentine T, Young IM (2005). Root cap influences root colonisation by Pseudomonas fluorescens SBW25 on maize. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 54, 123-130.
  3. Young IM, Ritz K, Sturrock CS & Heck R (2005). Physical constraints in grassland ecosystems. Chapter in book published by IGER (in press).
  4. Zhang X, Crawford JW, Deeks LK, Sutter MI, Bengough AG & Young IM (2005). A mass balance based equation method for the fractional advection-dispersion equation: Theory and application. Water Resources Research, 41, 1-10.
  5. Zhang X, Deeks LK, Bengough AG, Crawford JW, Young IM (2005). Determination of soil hydraulic conductivity with the lattice Boltzmann method and soil thin-section technique. Journal of Hydrology, 306, 59-70.


2004:

  1. Young IM & Crawford JW (2004). Interactions and self-organisation in the soil-microbe complex. Science, 304, 1634-1637.
  2. Feeney DS, Daniell T, Hallett PD, Illian J, Ritz K & Young IM (2004). Does the presence of glomalin relate to reduced water infiltration through hydrophobicity? Canadian Journal of Soil Science, 84, 365-372.
  3. Hallett PD, Nunan N, Douglas JT & Young IM (2004). Millimetre-scale spatial variability in soil water sorptivity: scale, surface elevation and subcritical repellency effects. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 68, 352-358.
  4. Ritz K & Young IM (2004). Interactions between soil structure and fungi. Mycologist, 18, 52-59. [doi:10.1017/S0269-915X(04)00201-0] 
  5. Johnson SN, Gregory PJ, Murray PJ, Zhang X & Young IM (2004). Host plant recognition by the root feeding clover weevil, Sitona lepidus (Coleoptera: Curculionidae). Bulletin of Entomological Research, 94, 433-439.
  6. Wu K, Nunan N, Crawford JW, Young IM. & Ritz K (2004). N efficient markov chain model for the simulation of heterogeneous soil structure. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 68, 346-351.
  7. Otten W, Harris K, Young IM, et al. (2004). Preferential spread of the pathogenic fungus Rhizoctonia solani through structured soil. Soil Biol. & Biochem, 36, 203-210.
  8. Rodger R, Griffiths BS, McNicol JW, Wheatley R & Young  IM (2004). The impact of bacterial diet on the migration and navigation of Caenorhabditis elegans. Microbial Ecology, 48, 358-365.
  9. Bruneau PMC, Davidson DA, Grieve IC, Young IM, Nunan N (2004). The effects of soil horizons and faunal excrement on bacterial distribution in an upland grassland soil. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 52, 139-144.
  10. Deeks LK, Bengough AG, Low D, Billett MF, Zhang X, Crawford JW, Chessell JM & Young IM (2004). Spatial variation of effective porosity and its implications for discharge in an upland headwater catchment in Scotland. Journal of Hydrology, 290, 217-228.


2003:

  1. Read DB, Bengough AG, Gregory PJ, Crawford JW, Robinson D, Scrimgeour CM, Young IM, Zhang K, & Zhang Z (2003). Plant roots release phospholipid surfactants that modify the physical and chemical properties of soil. New Phytologist, 157, 315-326.
  2. Nunan N, Wu K, Young IM, Crawford JW & Ritz K (2003). Spatial distribution of bacterial communities and their relationship with the micro-architecture of soil. FEMS Microbiology Ecology, 1496, 1-12.
  3. Rodger R, Bengough AG, Griffiths BS, Stubbs V, Young IM (2003) . Does the Presence of Detached Root Border Cells of Zea mays Alter the Activity of the Pathogenic Nematode Meloidogyne incognita? Phytopathology, 93, 1111-1114.
  4. Harris K, Young IM, Gilligan CA, et al (2003). Effect of bulk density on the spatial organisation of the fungus Rhizoctonia solani in soil. FEMS Microbiology & Ecology, 44, 45-56.


2002:

  1. Zhang X, Bengough AG, Crawford JW & Young IM (2002). Efficient methods for solving water flow in variably saturated soils under prescribed flux infiltration. Journal of Hydrology, 260, 75-87.
  2. Zhang X, Bengough AG, Crawford JW & Young IM (2002). A lattice BGK model for advection and anisotropic dispersion equation. Advances in Waters Resources, 25, 1-8.
  3. Harris K, Crabb D, Young IM, Weaver H, Gilligan CA, Otten W & Ritz K (2002). In situ visualisation of fungi in soil thin sections: problems with crysatllisation of the flurochrome FB 28 (Calcofluor M2R) and improved staining by SCRI Renaissance 2200. Mycol. Res, 106, 293-297.
  4. Nunan N, Wu K, Young IM, Crawford JW, Ritz K (2002). In situ spatial patterns of soil bacterial populations, mapped at multiple scales, in an arable soil. Microbial Ecology, 44, 296-305.
  5. Zhang XX, Crawford JW, Bengough AG, Young IM, et al. (2002). On boundary conditions in the lattice Boltzmann model for advection and anisotropic dispersion equation. Advances in Water Resource, 25, 601-609.
  6. Davidson DA Bruneau PMC, Grieve IC & Young IM (2002). Impacts of fauna on an upland grassland soil as determined by micromorphological analysis. Applied Soil Ecology, 20, 133-143.


2001:

  1. McGovern HJ, Deeks LK, Hallett PD, Ritz K & Young IM (2001). A sterile environment for growing, and monitoring, micro-organisms under a range of soil matric potentials. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 33, 689-691.
  2. Young IM, Crawford JW & Rappoldt C (2001) New methods and models for characterising structural heterogeneity of soil. Soil & Tillage Research, 61, 33-45.
  3. Young IM & Crawford JW. Protozoan life in a fractal world. Protist, 152, 123-126.
  4. Ronn RM, Griffiths BS & Young IM (2001) Protozoa, nematodes and N-mineralization across a prescribed textural gradient. Pedobiologia, 45, 481-495.
  5. Preston S, Writh S, Ritz K, Griffiths BS & Young IM (2001). The role played by microorganisms in the biogenesis of soil cracks: importance of substrate quantity and quality. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 33, 1851-1858.
  6. Hallett PD, Baumgartl & Young IM (2001). Subcritical water repellency of aggregates from a range of soil management practices. Soil Society of America Journal, 65, 184-190. (voted best soil physics papers 2003).
  7. W. Otten, D. Hall, K. Harris, K. Ritz, I. M. Young & C. A. Gilligan (2001). Soil physics, fungal epidemiology and the spread of Rhizoctonia solani. Soil Biology & Biochemistry, 151, 459-468.
  8. Nunan N, Ritz K, Crabb D, et al. (2001). Quantification of the in situ distribution of soil bacteria by large-scale imaging of thin sections of undisturbed soil. FEMS MIcrobial Ecology, 37, 67-77.
  9. Ronn RM, Griffiths BS, Young IM (2001). Protozoa, nematodes and N-mineralization across a prescribed soil textural gradient. Pedobiologia, 45, 481-495.
  10. Feltham DL, Chaplain MAJ, Young IM, et al. (2002). A mathematical analysis of a minimal model of nematode migration in soil. J BIOL SYST, 10, 15-32.
  11. Zhang X, Bengough AG, Deeks LK, Crawford JW, Young IM (2002). A novel three-dimensional lattice Boltzmann model for solute transport in variably saturated porous media. Water Resources Research, 38, 1167-1176.


2000:

  1. Horgan, G.W., and I.M. Young (2000). An empirical stochastic model for the geometry of two-dimensional crack growth in soil (with discussion). Geoderma, 96, 263–276.
  2. Czarnes S, Hallett PD, Bengough AG, Young IM (2000). Root- and microbial-derived mucilages affect soil structure and water transport. European Journal of Soil Science, 51, 435-443.
  3. Young IM, Ritz K (2000). Tillage, habitat space and function of soil microbes. Soil & Tillage Research, 53, 201-213.