Research in this theme focuses on
- understanding and harnessing ecosystem processes to provide new bio-protection strategies that underpin sustainable agriculture and environmental protection
- using advanced molecular techniques to elucidate plant-microbe and microbe-pest interactions in the soil
- exploring and manipulating the biodiversity/ecosystem function (BDEF) relationship to produce favourable effects by adding biodiversity to ecosystems services such as biological control
- using advanced molecular techniques to measure the effects of environmental stress on the expression of genes involved in plant productivity.
A flagship programme within this Theme is the Greening Waipara Project. Fifty North Canterbury vineyards are collaborating in this world-leading biodiversity enhancement programme.
A lot of our work with soil is undertaken in the New Zealand Biotron - a purpose-built facility unique to New Zealand.
Theme Leaders: Professor Alison Stewart and Professor Leo Condron, both of Lincoln University.
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