![[Photo: Steven Livesley]](../../../creswick_images/staff/steve_livesley.png)
Stephen Livesley
| Position | Research Fellow |
|---|---|
| Address | Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science University of Melbourne 500 Yarra Boulevard Richmond Victoria 3121 Australia |
| sjlive@unimelb.edu.au | |
| Phone | +61 3 9250 6818 or 0439 615 772 |
C and N cycling in forest and agro-ecosystems
Research aims are to link ecosystem scale C and nutrient balance studies (both above- and below-ground) with detailed soil process studies, to better understand and predict the mechanisms involved in soil C and N cycling and the factors that influence these processes (soil moisture, temperature, rainfall, fire, fertiliser). A key focus has become the detailed and extended measurement of soil-plant-atmosphere exchange of CO2, N2O and CH4 in relation to changing soil conditions, substrate availability and microbial processes (nitrification, denitrification, methanotroph oxidation, litter decomposition and soil C mineralization).
This research has been applied to issues of:
- land-use change,
- environmental or climate change,
- fire disturbance, and
- land management practice.
The analytical techniques employed in this research include:
- stable isotope (15N) and (13C) tracer techniques and mass spectrometer analysis,
- gas chromatograph analysis of nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4) flux,
- Infra-red gas analysis of carbon dioxide (CO2) flux,
- Mass balance of ecosystem C pools and flux above and below-ground.
Available Postgraduate Research Projects
Link to Forests and Climate Change Research home page
Link to Ecophysiology and Ecosystem Processes home page