Geophysical and Environmental Soil Sensing Research

From : Dr. David Robinson, Senior Lecturer in Soil Physics

Date August 8, 2008

"I am writing to clarify our use of the IR camera (ToughCam EL). I am a US citizen and have recently moved from Stanford (USA) to take up a teaching and research post in Trinidad at the University of the West Indies. The teaching and research program focuses on soil science and eco hydrology/plant water relations. With research in Stanford we had found that by accurately measuring the temperature of the plants compared to the atmospheric temperature we could determine if the plants were transpiring or not. By being able to take IR images across the landscape we can determine which plants are actively transpiring and which are not and thus infer relationships between plant communities in terms of competition. A second research application in the department is to with animals. We have an interest in improving the animal housing in the tropics with regard to avoiding over heating of the animals. Animal temperature is normally determined with a rectal thermometer, but the IR camera will allow us to see how the temperature distribution of the animal is responding to the different housing designs.

With regards to teaching I have developed a new third year undergraduate course entitled 'geophysical and environmental soil sensing' AGSL3010. This course focuses on the use of modern technologies for application in environmental science and agriculture. The IR camera will be demonstrated as a means of identifying plant transpiration response to soil moisture conditions."

Dr. David Robinson

To read more about Dr. Robinson and his research please visit http://uwisoils.googlepages.com/home