Position: Professor, Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Waikato.
Field: Controlling nitrogen1 losses from land.
Louis Schipper has been interested in science since he was a child. His parents worked in Australia, New Zealand and Sāmoa, exposing Louis to different environments and a multitude of places and people to learn from, so it was not surprising that Louis decided to study science and went to the University of Waikato to do so.
While Louis was intrigued by science in general, microbiology2 and chemistry interested him in particular. Louis felt naturally at home with the logical framework that chemistry provided to understand such complex areas like microbial3 ecology4.
After completing his master’s degree, Louis commenced a 2-week job at the Crown research institute Forest Research, which turned into a PhD5 project. He was looking at the special organic6 soils found in riparian wetlands7 (wetlands close to streams or lakes) and their ability to protect the stream quality by removing nitrate8 from the groundwater9.
He realised that, in many places, the natural filtering system of riparian wetlands had become dysfunctional particularly when organic material had been lost from the soil. The organic material is used by microorganisms10 to convert dissolved nitrate to nitrogen gases11 (a natural component of the atmosphere12).
Upon further investigations, Louis figured that, by putting organic material back into the soil (Louis is using wood chips), you can restore the nitrate removal functions of the soil quite effectively. He devised ‘denitrification walls’ that remove virtually all of the nitrogen from the water before it reaches surface waters13. The denitrification14 walls are used in so-called non-point source systems, which just means that there is no single entry point of nitrate-rich water to surface waters. However, in his work, Louis also deals with point source systems, for example, domestic effluent15 that is collected and run through denitrification beds, which operate under the same principles as denitrification walls.
Louis co-leads a research team within the University of Waikato’s Environmental Research Institute. The team collaborates on a variety of projects covering carbon16 exchange and budgets in pastures and wetlands. Their focus is to use carbon budgets as an indicator17 of ecosystem18 sustainability and to identify ways in which to increase soil carbon content.
The creative side of science
Louis enjoys both the challenging and the creative aspects of science. Denitrification beds – a creative approach explains how Louis took a creative leap as a young scientist. As a result, denitrification beds are now in use all over the world. In the video Creativity and science, Louis discusses creativity and the importance of understanding your subject really, really well.
Louis also uses another medium for creatively expressing his science research – cakes! Research cakes – making the world sweeter with science – challenges scientists to describe their research via a decorated cake. Whenever one of Louis' students or colleagues makes a discovery or publishes a paper, they are encouraged to explain it with a cake. It's a fun, edible and clever way communicate findings.
Useful links
Learn more about Louis Schipper’s research activities by visiting the Waikato Biogeochemistry and Ecohydrology Research (WaiBER) website.
Listen to this podcast interview on Dr Schipper's journey through life and science.
Explore the delicious and varied range of research cakes on the Waikato Biogeochemistry19 and Ecohydrology Research (WaiBER) website. See how cakes tell science stories.
This article is based on information current in 2009, but updated in 2013 and 2017.
- nitrogen: A non-metal – symbol N, atomic number 7. Nitrogen is essential for life. It is a component of many molecules that make up cells, including DNA and proteins.
- microbiology: The study of microorganisms, including protozoa, algae, fungi, bacteria and viruses.
- microbial: Anything of, or related to microorganisms.
- ecology: The study of the interactions of living organisms with each other and their environment.
- PhD: Abbreviation of Doctor of Philosophy – a degree normally obtained after a concentrated period of research. This is the highest level of degree that involves supervision by academic staff at a university.
- organic: 1. Molecules that contain carbon and that have a biological origin. 2. Grown using natural processes with nutrients from natural sources.
- wetland: An area of land that is saturated with water, often referred to as a swamp or bog. Wetlands may be seasonally or permanently water-logged with vegetation adapted for life under those soil conditions. Wetlands are known as repo in te reo Māori.
- nitrate: A chemical composed of three oxygen atoms for every nitrogen atom.
- groundwater: Water located beneath the Earth’s surface in soil spaces and in fractures of rocks.
- microorganism: A living organism which is too small to be seen with the naked eye and can only be observed using a microscope. Includes bacteria and most protists.
- gases: The state of matter distinguished from the solid and liquid states. Gases have the ability to diffuse readily and to become distributed uniformly throughout any container.
- atmosphere: 1. The layer of gas around the Earth. 2. (atm) A non-SI unit of pressure equivalent to 101.325 kPa.
- surface water: A body of water above the substrate or soil surface – for example, streams, rivers, lakes and oceans.
- denitrification: Part of the nitrogen cycle. A process where bacteria in soil breaks down nitrates into atmospheric nitrogen gas.
- effluent: The outflowing of water from a system – often refers to the discharge of sewage, but can also be natural, for example, the outflowing of a river to the sea. Agricultural effluent refers to the treated and untreated wastewater collected during the management of livestock.
- carbon: A non-metal element (C). It is a key component of living things.
- indicator: Something that indicates the state or level of something. In ecology, a species that indicates the existence of certain environmental conditions. In chemistry, a substance that indicates the presence (or absence) of a chemical species at a specific concentration.
- ecosystem: An interacting system including the biological, physical, and chemical relationships between a community of organisms and the environment they live in.
- biogeochemistry: A branch of science that studies the relationship between the geochemistry of a region and the animal and plant life in that region.
