Louis Schipper
Waikato University

It's great to be on board the NZSSS committee this year.

I completed my PhD at the Forest Research Institute looking at denitrification in riparian soils in 1992. This was a bit of a department from my training which had been predominantly in biology and chemistry. My wife and I then spent a couple of very hot years in Florida looking microbial processes in wetlands mostly methane cycling and litter decomposition while dodging alligators, the odd snake and lightening storms. Then back to relatively-safe New Zealand to work for Landcare Research in 1994. I focused on land treatment of wastes looking at ways of artificially increasing nitrogen removal, wetland ecosystem development, and soil quality assessment all the time learning more about the soil processes from a great bunch of scientists.

Latterly, I have been investigating long-term changes in organic matter dynamics being particularly interested in the concept of nitrogen saturation and loss of carbon from flatland pastures. In 2005, I moved to the Earth and Ocean Science Department at the University of Waikato, where I am teaching undergraduate and graduate soil science with an environmental flavour. I still maintain strong contacts with Landcare Research being involve din their work and co-supervising students. Looking forward to serving the NZSSS and please feel free to contact me if you have any issues you would like to raise.