Glasshouse complex and laboratory facilities for soil and plant research in SABL

Agronomy, soil and plant scientists in SABL at UNE work in laboratories that are equipped to carry out a wide range of cation, anion and total elemental analyses on environmental, agricultural, geological and archaeological samples by Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectroscopy, GC-MS, IRMS Stable isotope analysis (δ13C, δ15N), P-XRF, CNS Mass Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared Spectrophotometry, Ion Chromatography etc. Continual equipment renewal has recently seen new soil and plant grinding equipment, spectroscopy and near infrared spectrometers. In the Earth Sciences, UNE can also explore soil mineralogy using x-ray diffraction while in collaboration with research partners (ANSTO) can access 14C analysis.

Ecology laboratories are further equipped with a range of equipment including incubators, ovens, refrigerators, balances, microscopes, portable field based automatic weather stations, light and radiation meters, specimen storage facilities etc. The Limnology laboratory is equipped with a variety of oxygen, pH and conductivity meters, water sampling equipment, Ekman grab, multi-channel temperature recorders and portable analytical balances. Specialist sampling equipment includes freeze corers and box samplers. The Molecular Ecology laboratory, and the Institute for Genetics and Bioinformatics provides the computing facilities required for the large genomic datasets.

The faculty of Science, Agriculture, Business and Law has an impressive potting shed, greenhouse and laboratory facility, capable of measuring all soil and plant parameters relevant to many areas of research, including purpose built 1 m x 1 m rhizoboxes for root/ soil interface research at relevant soil temperatures and depths. These facilities allow UNE researchers to run experiments throughout the year regardless of cold winters and wet summers.