Publications

My publications span my postdoctoral, PhD, and MSc research and centre on soil biogeochemistry and carbon cycling. My work focuses on understanding the mechanisms that control carbon storage and persistence in terrestrial ecosystems. Key themes include:

–Enhanced mineral weathering and soil carbon permanence, examining inorganic carbon formation, soil organic matter stabilization, and microbial controls on carbon dioxide removal.
–Carbon dynamics in buried and eroding soils, including radiocarbon-based assessments of soil organic matter stability under climate change.
–Organic–inorganic carbon transformations in termite-affected soils of South Africa.
–Environmental controls on oxalate salts in plants and termite frass across climatic gradients.
–Development and comparison of analytical methods, including infrared spectroscopy and international approaches to measuring cation exchange capacity.

Publications

Nel et al. (under review) “Destabilization of buried carbon under changing moisture regimes”. DOI: 10.5194/egusphere-2025-5164

Dolui et al. 2026. “Soil organic matter stabilization by polyvalent cations in a buried alkaline soil”. JGR Biogeosciences. DOI: 10.1029/2025JG009241

Dolui et al. 2026. “Composition and persistence of soil organic matter along eroding and depositional transects in buried vs. modern soil layers: A case of the Brady paleosol at Wauneta, Nebraska”. Geoderma. DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2025.117660

Nel, T. et al. 2025. “Impacts of land use change on carbon storage in termite mounds of South Africa.” Catena. DOI: 10.1016/j.catena.2025.109141

Nel, T. et al. 2025. “Oxalate content of vegetation and termite frass in western South Africa”. Ecosphere. DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.70265

Nel, T. et al. 2025. “Carbon sequestration in termite mounds: the contributions of microbial oxalotrophy”. Catena. DOI: 10.1016/j.catena.2025.109141

Vermonti, N. et al. 2024. “Termites as vectors for the lateral movement of ions in the landscape: their influence on nutrient cycling and landscape heterogeneity”. Applied Soil Ecology. DOI: 10.1016/j.apsoil.2025.105898

Nel, T. et al. 2024. “Efficient quantification of soluble and insoluble oxalates in clay mineral mixtures”. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis. DOI: 10.1080/00103624.2024.2336574

Cowan, D. et al. 2024. “Oxalate and oxalotrophy: an environmental perspective”. Sustainable Microbiology. DOI: 10.1093/sumbio/qvad004

Nel, T. et al. 2023. “Soil pH and extractable basic cations of Western Cape soils measured by infrared spectroscopy”. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis. DOI: 10.1080/00103624.2023.2223657

Nel, T. et al. 2023. “Comparison of five methods to determine the cation exchange capacity of soil”. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science. DOI: 10.1002/jpln.202200378

Nel, T. et al. 2022. “Evaluation of simple and multivariate linear regression models for exchangeable base cation conversion between seven measurement techniques on South African soils”. Geoderma Regional. DOI: 10.1016/j.geodrs.2022.e00571

Nel, T. et al. 2022. “Simple and multivariate linear regression models for pH conversion between measurement techniques”. Communications in Soil Science and Plant Analysis, 43(13), 1797-1808. DOI: 10.1080/00103624.2022.2063324