Camilla Ruø Rasmussen

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I try to understand how plants make use of available resources and how they reach out to obtain them when resources are scarce. To do so I look at roots, their distribution and behavior in their natural environment – soil.

I focus on water and nitrogen - two resources frequently limiting plant growth, but also resulting in environmental damage and climatic challenges when present in excess.

In a wider context, I want to help create sustainable agroecosystems that are resilient to drought, efficiently utilize available nutrients, and prevent nutrient leaching and greenhouse gas formation.

I am curious about how plants cope when water is only available in the deeper part of their root zone. Are they opportunists that utilize water when they can, or are they conservative and economize on it? I am also interested in how plant uptake of nitrogen close to the soil surface can prevent the formation of the strong greenhouse gas nitrous oxide and how nitrogen uptake deep in the soil profile can prevent leaching. Plant-plant interactions are also important here. How do plants compete, do they recognize other plants, and, if so, do they collaborate or harm each other?

The complexity of the processes operating in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum calls for integrative approaches. As an experimentalist, I develop methods and equipment and collaborate with researchers in remote sensing and modeling.

Current research

I am a theme leader for landscape experimentation at Center for Landscape Research in Sustainable Agricultural Futures, Land-CRAFT

Teaching

I teach the following courses:

• Laboratoriemetoder i geovidenskaben
• Climate Change: An Interdisciplinary Challenge
• Problemorienteret projektarbejde
• Field course physical geography (naturgeografisk feltkursus)
• Carbon Storage and Biological Interactions in Soil