Institute of Technology Carlow

Dr Nabla Kennedy

B.A., Ph.D.

IRCSET/JREL Enterprise Partnership Scheme Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Science and Health, IT Carlow

Research Experience

2011 – present

IRCSET/JREL Enterprise Partnership Scheme Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Science and Health, Institute of Technology Carlow

• Investigating strategies to accelerate biostabilisation of municipal solid waste.

2005 -2010

Postdoctoral Fellow, Ecosystem Science and Management, University of Northern British Columbia

• Investigated fungal and bacterial involvement in Douglas fir seedling regeneration after fire in central British Columbia (Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) project).
• Researched re-establishment and regeneration of mycorrhizal and N-cycling bacterial communities of lodgepole pine following insect attack.
• Studied geospatial relationships in ecosystem response to global warming in High Arctic soils as part of International Polar Year (IPY) project.

MEMBERSHIP OF PROFESSIONAL BODIES

British Mycological Society

Research Interests

• Role of microbes in waste composting
• Microbial ecology, particularly fungal and bacterial involvement in nutrient cycling in terrestrial ecosystems
• Response of microbial communities to environmental disturbance
• Application of molecular ecology tools to study microbial populations in the environment
• Statistical approaches to multivariate community profile data

Publications:

Lamb, E., Kennedy, N, and Siciliano, S. (2011). Effects of plant species richness and evenness on soil community diversity and function. Plant and Soil 338: 483-495.

Kennedy, N., and Egger, K. (2010). Impact of wildfire intensity and logging on fungal and nitrogen-cycling bacterial communities in British Columbia forest soils. Forest Ecology and Management 260, 787-794.

Rooney, D., Kennedy, N., Gleeson, D., and Clipson, N. (2010). Responses of ammonia-oxidising bacterial communities to nitrogen, lime and plant species in upland grassland soil. Applied and Environmental Soil Science 2010, 7 pages. Article ID 319721. doi:10.1155/2010/319721.

Robertson, S., Kennedy, N., Massicotte, H., Rutherford, P. (2010). Enhanced biodegradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in the mycorrhizosphere of sub-boreal forest soils. Environmental Microbiology Reports 2, 587-593.

Rooney, D., Kennedy, N., Deering, L., Gleeson, D., and Clipson, N. (2006). Effect of sheep urine deposition on the bacterial community structure in an acidic upland grassland soil. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 72, 7231-7237.

Kennedy, N., Brodie, E., Connolly, J., and Clipson, N. (2006). Seasonal influences on fungal community structure in unimproved and improved upland grassland soils. Canadian Journal of Microbiology 52, 689-694.

Gleeson, D., Kennedy, N., Clipson, N , Melville, K., Gadd, G., and McDermott, F. (2005). Characterization of bacterial community structure on a weathered pegmatitic granite. Microbial Ecology 51, 526-534.

Kennedy, N., Edwards, S., and Clipson, N. (2005). Soil bacterial and fungal community structure across a range of unimproved and semi-improved upland grasslands. Microbial Ecology 50, 463-473.

Kennedy, N., Gleeson, D. Connolly, J., and Clipson, N. (2005). Seasonal and management influences on bacterial community structure in an upland grassland soil. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 53, 329-337.

Kennedy, N., Connolly, J., and Clipson, N. (2005). Impact of lime, nitrogen and plant species on fungal community structure in grassland microcosms. Environmental Microbiology 7, 780-788.

Kennedy, N., Brodie, E., Connolly, J., and Clipson, N. (2004). Impact of lime, nitrogen and plant species on bacterial community structure in grassland microcosms. Environmental Microbiology 6, 1070-1080.

Kennedy, N., and Clipson, N. (2003). Fingerprinting the fungal community. Mycologist 17, 158-163.

Reports (Peer-reviewed):

Egger, K., Arocena, J., Green, S., Kennedy, N., Massicotte, H., Tackaberry, L., and Scholefield, S. (2009). Assessment of post-beetle impacts on natural regeneration of lodgepole pine. Natural Resources Canada, Canadian Forest Service, Pacific Forestry Centre, Victoria, BC. Mountain Pine Beetle Working Paper 2009-07.