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Professor David Rowlings
Faculty of Science,
School of Biology & Environmental Science
Biography
Professor David Rowlings is a soil scientist in the Sustainable Agriculture program at the Centre for Agriculture and Bioeconomy. His research sits at the nexus of the environmental and agricultural science, enabling high impact research outcomes that benefit both fields for positive global change and food security. He specializes in the development and utilization of improved sensing and monitoring technologies for mitigating environmental greenhouse gases, improving crop fertiliser-use efficiency and monitoring soil carbon, reactive nitrogen and biogeochemical processes. His work spans the Australian beef, dairy, grains, sugar and horticulture industries and he has worked internationally in cropping and rice systems.Research Interest
- Soil carbon and nitrogen cycling
- Reactive nitrogen, biogeochemical cycles, nitrogen use efficiency
- Subtropical and semi-arid tropical farming systems
- Utilising organic amendments for sustainable agriculture and soil health
- Dryland cropping, improved pastures and dairy farming systems
- Carbon neutral beef
Personal details
Positions
- Professor
Faculty of Science,
School of Biology & Environmental Science
Research field
Environmental management, Agriculture, land and farm management, Crop and pasture production
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
Professional memberships and associations
Soil Science Australia, Soil Science Society of America
Teaching
Course coordinator EVB312 - Soils in the environment
Publications
- Kirkby, R., Friedl, J., De Rosa, D., Clough, T., Rowlings, D. & Grace, P. (2025). Hybrid pathways of denitrification drive N2O but not N2 emissions from an acid-sulphate sugarcane soil. Biology and Fertility of Soils, 61(3), 559–573. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/245509
- Rowlings, D., Lester, D., Grace, P., Scheer, C., De Rosa, D., De Antoni Migliorati, M., Friedl, J. & Bell, M. (2022). Seasonal rainfall distribution drives nitrogen use efficiency and losses in dryland summer sorghum. Field Crops Research, 283, Article 108527. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/229908
- Takeda, N., Friedl, J., Rowlings, D., De Rosa, D., Scheer, C. & Grace, P. (2021). Exponential response of nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions to increasing nitrogen fertiliser rates in a tropical sugarcane cropping system. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 313, Article 107376. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/208911
- Grace, P., van der Weerden, T., Rowlings, D., Scheer, C., Brunk, C., Kiese, R., Butterbach-Bahl, K., Rees, R., Robertson, G. & Skiba, U. (2020). Global Research Alliance N2O chamber methodology guidelines: Considerations for automated flux measurement. Journal of Environmental Quality, 49(5), 1126–1140. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/210547
- Mitchell, E., Scheer, C., Rowlings, D., Conant, R., Cotrufo, M. & Grace, P. (2018). Amount and incorporation of plant residue inputs modify residue stabilisation dynamics in soil organic matter fractions. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 256, 82–91. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/126951
- Friedl, J., De Rosa, D., Rowlings, D., Grace, P., Muller, C. & Scheer, C. (2018). Dissimilatory nitrate reduction to ammonium (DNRA), not denitrification dominates nitrate reduction in subtropical pasture soils upon rewetting. Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 125, 340–349. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/126940
- Van Delden, L., Rowlings, D., Scheer, C., De Rosa, D. & Grace, P. (2018). Effect of urbanization on soil methane and nitrous oxide fluxes in subtropical Australia. Global Change Biology, 24(12), 5695–5707. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/126941
- De Rosa, D., Basso, B., Rowlings, D., Scheer, C., Biala, J. & Grace, P. (2017). Can organic amendments support sustainable vegetable production? Agronomy Journal, 109(5), 1856–1869. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/113855
- Scheer, C., Rowlings, D., Firrell, M., Deuter, P., Morris, S., Riches, D., Porter, I. & Grace, P. (2017). Nitrification inhibitors can increase post-harvest nitrous oxide emissions in an intensive vegetable production system. Scientific Reports, 7, 1–9. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/108678
- Rowlings, D., Scheer, C., Liu, S. & Grace, P. (2016). Annual nitrogen dynamics and urea fertilizer recoveries from a dairy pasture using 15N; effect of nitrification inhibitor DMPP and reduced application rates. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 216, 216–225. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/220961
QUT ePrints
For more publications by David, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/d.rowlings
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Foreshadowing rainfall and native pasture growth in northeastern Australia: building (and rebuilding) on the pioneering work of Sir Gilbert Walker
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Peter Grace - Long-Term Dynamics of Soil Organic Carbon and Biomass in Subtropical Grasslands: Integrating Field Measurements, Process-Based, and Empirical Models
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Peter Grace, Dr Naoya Takeda - Quantifying Nitrous Oxide Emissions from the Addition of Sorghum Residues on Soil in Queensland Cropping Systems
MPhil, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Taleta Bailey, Dr Naoya Takeda - Reconciling stakeholder needs for farm level ecological sustainability measurements
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Louisa Coglan, Dr Elaine Mitchell, Dr David Tucker - Remediation of Acidic-clay Tailings through Combined Enhanced Weathering and Soil Amelioration Techniques
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Sara Couperthwaite, Dr Rachel Pepper - Testing mechanisms of soil carbon persistence in Northern Australia
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Mark Bonner, Dr Elaine Mitchell, Dr Taleta Bailey
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Optimising Remote Sensing to Spatially Predict Above-ground Biomass and Soil Organic Carbon at Field Scale in Subtropical Grasslands (2026)
- Denitrification losses (N2O and N2) in response to nitrogen fertiliser rates in Australian sugarcane systems: From field to regional scales (2023)
- Carbon and Nitrogen Flux Dynamics in Highly Weathered Tropical Mango Soils: Effect of Leaf Litter and Nitrogen Fertiliser (2022)
- Potential of remote and proximal sensing, publicly available datasets and machine learning for site-specific management in Australian irrigated cotton systems (2022)
- Nitrate Removal and Nitrous Oxide Production of Denitrifying Woodchip Bioreactors under Subtropical and Tropical Climates (2021)
- Quantifying Denitrification Losses from Intensively Managed Pastures and Evaluating the Mitigation Potential of Irrigation and Fertiliser Management (2021)
- The Fate of Above-Ground Carbon Inputs as Stable SOM and GHGs (2020)
- The Impact of Using Urban Derived Compost on Nitrogen Use Efficiency, Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Productivity from Tropical Cropping Systems (2019)
- Denitrification Losses from Intensively Managed Pastures in the Subtropics - Key Controls and Mitigation (2017)
- Implications of urbanization related land use change on the Carbon and Nitrogen cycle from subtropical soils (2017)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
- Climate-Smart Plants: Enhanced Carbon Storage in Grasspea (Lathyrus sativus L.) Through Genome Editing (2025)
- Empirical Insight into the Decay of Basalt Particles in Natural Soils using Digital Microscopy (2025)
- Greenhouse Gas Mitigation Strategies for Rice Cultivation in Vietnam under Climate Change Scenarios using DAYCENT (2025)
- Carbon Balance of a Sub-Tropical Grazing Grassland During Drought Recovery, Micrometeorological Estimates Compared to Inventory Approaches (2024)
- Constraining source pathways, magnitude and product stoichiometry of N2O and N2 emissions from Australian sugarcane growing soils (2024)
- Microbial Interactions with Long-Lived Carbon Pools in North-East Australian Grasslands (2024)
- Assessing Soil Nitrogen Dynamics in Vertosols Cropped to Cotton in Subtropical Australia (2021)
- Ecological Impact of Myrtle Rust (Austropuccinia Psidii) In a Wet Sclerophyll Forest (2021)
- Improving Fertiliser Nitrogen Recovery and Mitigating Nitrous Oxide Emissions from Intensive Vegetable Cropping Systems in South East Queensland (2019)
- Soil Active Carbon as an Indicator of Nitrous Oxide Loss Potential (2017)
Supervision topics
- Using agricultural waste and organic amendments for sustainable agriculture and soil health
- Keeping carbon – ensuring soil carbon gains through improved grazing management persist through drought in Australia's tropical and semi-arid grasslands
- Using time-controlled grazing to sequester carbon in Queensland rangelands
- Co-benefits of trees on farms: soil carbon
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.