Kathy King
Honorary Fellow, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, School of Environmental and Rural Sciences
Contact
| Email: | kking8@une.edu.au |
| Room: | W23 206 |
| Phone: | 02 6773 2894 (or +61 2 6773 2894 overseas) |
| Fax: | 02 6773 3238 |
Honorary Fellow - Agronomy and Soil Science
Member (Soil biology, soil health) - Centre for Sustainable Farming Systems
Research interests
My main work for the past 30 years has been research in the field of soil biology. My research interests have been in agro-ecology, particularly as man’s impact, through farm management practices, affects soil biota – both invertebrate animals and micro-organisms. These practices have included how stocking rate of sheep and pasture improvement have influenced the organisms that live in litter and soil and how soil biological processes such as organic matter decomposition and nutrient cycling are affected by these management practices. In addition, I have looked at one group of mesofauna in detail – the Collembola – and have investigated how management practices have changed species assemblages of these invertebrate animals. I also have an interest in how agro-chemicals affect soil biota e.g. anti-parasitic drugs. I have worked mainly with pasture soils but have also dealt with cropping soils particularly on long-term cropping experiments. My work has used several long-term grazing experiments at the CSIRO property at Chiswick, (located at Armidale, NSW) where sustainability of management practices have been studied in relation to levels of biological activity in soil and soil health.