Doctor Yui Osanai

Holding Image - FemaleI joined the Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment in January 2013 as a postdoctoral fellow, coming to UWS from the University of Tasmania. My research at the institute aims to investigate the impact of climate change and extreme weather events on cotton production, with a particular focus on soil microbial function and nutrient cycling. During my PhD, I focused on the effect of plant species identity on soil processes in a native grassland community in Tasmania. I am particularly interested in plant-microbe interactions and how they may affect carbon and nitrogen cycling in this community. My work has found that co-occurring plant species do differ in their microbial community composition and that the interaction and feedback between plant species and soil microbes can affect decomposition processes. My project was also a part of the climate change manipulation experiment conducted at the same grassland (TasFACE). Thus I also investigated the effects of simulated climate change (i.e. elevated CO2 and warming) on litter decomposition and nutrient availability, focusing on the mechanisms by which global change affect C and N cycling.

My research interests are focused on understanding soil microbial ecology and function under environmental change and their interaction with plant communities. My aims are to improve our understanding of how climate change factors will affect nutrient cycling and plant-soil interactions.

Areas of research/teaching expertise

Plant-soil interaction, nutrient cycling, climate change, decomposition.

Awards and recognition

  • 2011, PhD award for outstanding performance during postgraduate studies in 2011, University of Tasmania
  • 2011, Best inaugural spoken presentation at Ecological Society of Australia Conference

Selected publications

Young SproutBowatte S, Newton PCD, Hill A-M, Theobald P, Luo D, Hovenden M, Osanai Y, (2013) 'Offspring of plants exposed to elevated or ambient CO2 differ in their impacts on soil nitrification in a common garden experiment', Soil Biology and Biochemistry, vol.62, pp 134-136

Osanai Y, Bougoure D, Hayden H, Hovenden M, (2013) 'Co-occurring grass species differ in their associated microbial community composition in a temperate native grassland', Plant and Soil, vol.368, pp 419-431

Osanai Y, Flittner A, Janes JK, Theobald P, Pendall E, Newton PCD, Hovenden MJ, (2012) 'Decomposition and nitrogen transformation rates in a temperate grassland vary among co-occurring plant species', Plant and Soil, vol.350, no.s 1-2, pp 365-378

Pendall E, Osanai Y, Williams AL, Hovenden MJ, (2010) 'Soil carbon storage under simulated climate change is mediated by plant functional type', Global Change Biology, vol.17, no.1, pp 505-514

Hovenden MJ, Newton PCD, Carran RA, Theobald P, Wills KE, Schoor JKV, Williams AL, Osanai Y, (2008) 'Warming prevents the elevated CO2-induced reduction in available soil nitrogen in a temperate, perennial grassland', Global Change Biology, vol.14, pp 1018-1024

Hovenden MJ, Wills KE, Chaplin RE, Schoor JKV, Williams AL, Osanai Y, Newton PCD, (2008) 'Warming and elevated CO2 affect the relationship between seed mass, germinability and seedling growth in Austrodanthonia caespitosa, a dominant Australian grass', Global Change Biology, vol.14, no.7, pp 1633-1641

 

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