Ronald Smernik

Ron Smernik is a senior lecturer in the Soils Group in the School of Agriculture, Food and Wine. His teaching and research interests are in field of soil chemistry. A particular focus is soil organic matter, the mostly dead and decaying biomass of plants and microbes that generally comprises 1-5% of soil mass, but has a disproportionate impact on many key soil properties, including fertility, carbon storage and the toxicity of pollutants. In terms of soil fertility, soil organic matter acts as a "slow release fertilizer", since the slow decomposition of soil organic matter releases key plant nutrients, especially N, P and S. The presence of soil organic matter also enhances soil physical properties for plant growth, including water holding capacity and soil structure. The carbon present in soil organic matter represents a large pool of carbon; management of soil to enhance soil organic matter levels has been identified as a key strategy for carbon sequestration to mitigate against climate change caused by rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Soil organic matter acts as the main sorbent of organic contaminants in soil and thus controls the toxicity, transport and rate of breakdown of this important class of environmental pollutants. Ron has contributed to all of these aspects of soil organic matter research, mainly through the development and application of methods for the chemical characterization of soil organic matter, especially nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy. Recent highlights include the development of 31P NMR methods to unravel the complexities of the P speciation of soil and novel methods for differentiating among the broad range of pyrolytic materials found in and added to soil (i.e. "black carbon" and "biochar"). Ron has published >100 peer-reviewed papers, has received funding for research both pure (e.g. ARC) and applied (e.g. Meat & Livestock Australia) in nature, and has collaborates with researchers all around the world.