Geoforensics and Information Management for crime Investigation (GIMI)

Project Staff - Karl Ritz

Professor Karl Ritz BSc, PhD.

Chair in Soil Biology, National Soil Resources Institute,
Cranfield University,
Silsoe,
MK45 4DT, UK

k.ritz@cranfield.ac.uk
http://www.silsoe.cranfield.ac.uk/staff/cv/k_ritz.htm

Tel: +44 (0)1525 863391

Current research activities

Focused on developing a mechanistic understanding the origins and functional consequences of the compositional and spatial organisation of soil microbial communities. This work underpins the development of frameworks for understanding factors that regulate the activity of soil communities, systems to manage the biota appropriately, and incisive procedures for assessing and monitoring soil health.

The use of catabolic profiles as an indicator of soil microbial functional diversity. Funded by Environment Agency

Self-organisation of the soil-microbe complex. Funded by BBSRC

Development of biological indicators of soil quality: Funded by Defra

Integration of soil fingerprinting techniques for forensic applications. Funded by EPSRC

Soil and surface water protection using conservation tillage in northern and central Europe (SOWAP). Funded by EU-LIFE with Syngenta

Origins and functional consequences of the compositional and spatial organisation of soil microbial communities, particularly:

• Factors that govern the structure and function of soil microbial communities
• Functional consequences of soil microbial diversity
• Quantification of the spatial organisation of soil communities and processes at multiple scales
• Soil structure:biota interactions
• Multivariate analysis of sub-components of soil systems

Publications

Crawford, J.W., Harris, J.A., Ritz, K. & Young, I.M. (2005) Towards an evolutionary ecology of life in soil. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 20, 81-87.

Ritz, K. (2005) Underview: origins and consequences of belowground biodiversity. In Biological Diversity and Function in Soils, ed. R. D. Bardgett, D. W. Hopkins and M. B. Usher, in press. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Griffiths, B.S., Kuan, H.L., Ritz, K., Glover, L.A., McCaig, A.E. & Fenwick, C. (2004) The relationship between microbial community structure and functional stability, tested experimentally in an upland pasture soil. Microbial Ecology 47, 104-113.

Jacobs, H., Boswell, G.P., Scrimgeour, C.M., Davidson, F.A., Gadd, G.M. & Ritz, K. (2004) Translocation of carbon by Rhizoctonia solani in nutritionally-heterogeneous microcosms. Mycological Research 108, 453-462.

Pennanen, T., Caul, S., Daniell, T.J., Griffiths, B.S., Ritz, K. & Wheatley, R.E. (2004) Community-level responses of metabolically-active soil microorganisms to the quantity and quality of substrate inputs. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 36, 841-848.

Ritz, K., McNicol, J.W., Nunan, N., Grayston, S.J., Millard, P., Atkinson, D., Gollotte, A., Habeshaw, D., Boag, B., Clegg, C.D., Griffiths, B.S., Wheatley, R.E., Glover, L.A., McCaig, A.E. & Prosser, J.I. (2004) Spatial structure in soil chemical and microbiological properties in an upland grassland. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 49, 191-205.