Next Generation Soil Carbon Systems

The Australia-China Science and Research Fund-Joint Research Centres (ACSRF-JRCs) grant program promotes collaboration between research groups in Australia and China. Both countries fund these Joint Research Centres (JRCs) to achieve positive economic, environmental, and social outcomes.
In 2021, the Soil and Landscape Science Lab at Curtin University and Zhejiang University were among the two recipients of the grant. The Australian government is funding next-generation multi-scale technologies to improve our understanding of soil carbon dynamics and sequestration.

At the Joint Research Centre on Next Generation Soil Carbon Systems launch, Curtin University.

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is essential for ecosystem functions and is vital for achieving several UN Sustainable Development Goals. However, the dynamics of organic carbon in Australian soils remain largely unexplored. This initiative by the Joint Research Centre aims to address this gap by focusing on Australia’s terrestrial and coastal marine soils.

The research will provide Australia with environmental and socio-economic benefits by developing innovative measurement and modelling technologies. It will highlight the crucial role of soils in global food security, ecological sustainability, and climate action. Additionally, the initiative will enhance ecosystem resilience, improve soil health and fertility, increase water retention, and boost agricultural productivity.

Zhejiang partners visit Curtin University

In August 2024, we had the pleasure of hosting Professor Zhongkui Luo and his colleagues from Zhejiang University and their collaborating institutions at Curtin University. Their visit was an exciting opportunity for us to showcase our modern laboratories and field site. Engaging in meaningful discussions, we exchanged insights on our current research within the SLSL and provided updates on our ongoing projects and collaborations. A particularly fruitful part of our conversations centred around the potential organisation of a ‘soil carbon’ session at the European Geoscience Union (EGU) meeting in 2025, which will be an excellent avenue to report on our ACSRF-JRC research and foster further advances in our field.

Nathan Wells (PhD candidate) showed Prof. Luo and colleagues his experiments to better understand the effects of plant diversity on soil carbon. There was a group photo at the Bentley campus and meetings with research updates.

Curtin partners visit Zhejiang University

In November 2024, Professor Viscarra Rossel and Dr Lewis Walden enjoyed visiting Zhejiang University. The visit marked an important milestone in the ongoing JRC. It was an excellent opportunity to discuss and exchange updates and insights on current and future research and collaboration. The visit was attended by Jess Brown, Counsellor (Industry, Science, and Resources) at the Australian Embassy in Beijing (DISR). Zhejiang University is an impressive institution with significant resources. Our proposal to the European Geoscience Union (EGU) to organise a session on ‘soil carbon and global change’ at the Vienna meeting in April-May 2025 was approved, and we also took the opportunity to start planning. The EGU will be an excellent avenue to report on our ACSRF-JRC research and communicate outcomes internationally.

The larger Zhejiang team presented their research to us and Jess Brown (DISR). Afterwards, we explored the Zhejiang University campus, pausing for photo opportunities amidst the beautiful autumn colours.

Outputs

  • Viscarra Rossel, R. A.,  Behrens, T.,  Ben-Dor, E.,  Chabrillat, S.,  Demattê, J.A.M., Ge, Y., . . . Shen, Z. (2022).  Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy for estimating soil properties: A technology for the 21st century. European Journal of Soil Science,  73(4), e13271. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.13271
  • Walden, L., Serrano, O., Zhang, M., Shen, Z., Sippo, J. Z., Bennett, L. T., . . . Viscarra Rossel, R. A. (2023). Multi-scale mapping of Australia’s terrestrial and blue carbon stocks and their continental and bioregional drivers. Communications Earth & Environment, 4, article 189. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-023-00838-x
  • Viscarra Rossel, R.A., Shen, Z., Ramirez Lopez, L., Behrens, T., Shi, Z. . . .Orellano, C. 2024. An imperative for soil spectroscopic modelling is to think global but fit local with transfer learning. Earth-Science Reviews, 254, 104797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2024.104797
  • Viscarra Rossel, R.A., Zhang, M., Behrens, T., Webster, R. A warming climate will make Australian soil a net emitter of atmospheric CO2. npj Clim Atmos. Sci. 7, 79 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41612-024-00619-z
  • Walden, L., Serrano, O., Shen, Z., Zhang, M., Lavery, P., Luo, Z., … & Viscarra Rossel, R.A. (2024). Mid-infrared spectroscopy determines the provenance of coastal marine soils and their organic and inorganic carbon content. Science of The Total Environment, 949, 174871. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174871