Key details
Dr Marcos Paradelo Pérez
Fellow in Soils
Dr Marcos Paradelo Pérez joined University of Greenwich in 2020, moving from Rothamsted Research where he was working on the strategic programme ‘Soil to Nutrition’ focus on understanding microorganisms’ interactions with the soil structure under different soil managements.
After graduating with a BSc in Agricultural engineering and a MSc in Agriculture and Food Science and Technology from University of Vigo, Spain, Marcos obtained his PhD degree in 2012 at the same university. He used for the first time the colloid filtration theory to describe the transport and fate of colloidal pesticide formulations through soil that were widely used in Galician (NW Spain) vineyards.
From 2013 to 2018 he carried his postdoctoral research at the Department of Agroecology, Aarhus University, Denmark. He investigated how soil structure controls soil ecosystem functions, using X-ray CT scanning techniques to predict the movement of water, solutes and colloids through soil. He also studied the changes in soil microbial communities under different soil physical environments and anthropogenic factors. He found that the changes in bacterial communities after herbicide applications is mitigated in soils with higher soil organic matter.
Marcos is always looking for the newest techniques applied to soil science. Together with other colleagues, he has used medical and industrial scanners and other visualization techniques to describe soil architecture, vis-NIR spectroscopy and multivariate models to estimate the partition coefficient of different chemicals in soil and he has got some experienced analysing metagenomic data to describe soil microbial communities. He has helped to developed fast response tensiometers to measure pressure jumps in structured soil during drainage to link pore-scale fluctuations to macropore/core scale fluctuations. Being inspired by frugal technology, he has used inexpensive colloidal tracers (sepia ink) to study colloidal transport in soil. Marcos is also very interested in crowdsourced / citizen science, being involved in testing a litter decomposition method using commercial tea bags.
In 2019 Marcos has been leading a project to create a new farmer-centric platform to monitor soil conditions and benchmark soil health. This project has been selected by ConceptionX, a programme for building deep tech startups from leading research labs and PhD programmes around the UK.
Marcos is a member of NRI's Agriculture, Health & Environment Department, mainly working under the Sustainable Agricultural Intensification Programme within the NRI’s Food and Nutrition Security Initiative, FaNSI.
A full staff profile can be seen on the Natural Resources Institute website.
Recent publications
Article
Kotzen, Benz , Paradelo Perez, Marcos, Fruscella, Lorenzo (2024), Feeding Mars: a pilot study growing vegetables using aquaponic effluent fertiliser in simulant and analogue Martian regoliths. European Ecocycles Society (ECyS). In: , , , . European Ecocycles Society (ECyS), Ecocycles: Scientific journal of the European Ecocycles Society, 10 (1) . pp. 1-17 ISSN: 2416-2140 (Print), (doi: https://doi.org/10.19040/ecocycles.v10i1.391).
Yan, Fulai , Fu, Yutin, Paradelo Perez, Marcos, Zhang, Fucang , Arthur, Emmanuel (2023), Long-term manure and cropping systems effect on soil water vapour sorption characteristics is controlled by soil texture. Elsevier. In: , , , . Elsevier, Geoderma, 436: 116533 . pp. 1-10 ISSN: 0016-7061 (Print), (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2023.116533).
Fruscella, Lorenzo , Kotzen, Benzion, Paradelo Perez, Marcos, Milliken, Sarah (2023), Investigating the effects of fish effluents as organic fertilisers on onion (Allium cepa) yield, soil nutrients, and soil microbiome. Elsevier. In: , , , . Elsevier, Scientia Horticulturae, 321: 112297 . pp. 1-13 ISSN: 0304-4238 (Print), 1879-1018 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2023.112297).
Moirana, Ruth Lorivi , Mkunda, Josephine, Machunda, Revocatus, Paradelo Perez, Marcos , Mtei, Kelvin (2022), Hydroxyapatite-activated seaweed biochar for enhanced remediation of fluoride contaminated soil at various pH ranges. Elsevier. In: , , , . Elsevier, Environmental Advances, 11: 100329 . pp. 1-9 2666-7657 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envadv.2022.100329).
Moirana, R.L , Mkunda, Josephine, Paradelo Perez, Marcos, Perez, Revocatus , Mtei, Kelvin (2022), Remediation of soils contaminated by fluoride using a fermentation product of seaweed (Eucheuma cottonii). Hindawi. In: , , , . Hindawi, Applied and Environmental Soil Science, 2022: 6967031 ISSN: 1687-7667 (Print), 1687-7675 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/6967031).
Fu, Yuting , de Jonge, Lis W., Moldrup, Per, Paradelo Perez, Marcos , Arthur, Emmanuel (2022), Improvements in soil physical properties after long-term manure addition depend on soil and crop type. Elsevier. In: , , , . Elsevier, Geoderma, 425: 116062 ISSN: 0016-7061 (Print), (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2022.116062).
Perez, Yuting , de Jonge, Lis W., Greve, Mogens H., Arthur, Emmanuel , Moldrup, Per , Norgaard, Trine , Paradelo Perez, Marcos (2022), Linking litter decomposition to soil physicochemical properties, gas transport, and land use. Wiley - Soil Science Society of America. In: , , , . Wiley - Soil Science Society of America, Soil Science Society of America Journal, 86 (1) . pp. 34-46 ISSN: 0361-5995 (Print), 1435-0661 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/saj2.20356).
Masters-Clark, E. , Shone, E., Paradelo, M., Hirsch, P. R. , Clark, I. M. , Otten, W. , Brennan, F. , Mauchline, T. H. (2020), Development of a defined compost system for the study of plant-microbe interactions. Nature. In: , , , . Nature, Scientific Reports, 10: 7521 2045-2322 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-64249-0).
Soto-Gomez, Diego , Perez-Rodriguez, Paula, Juiz, Laura Vazquez, Paradelo, Marcos , Lopez-Periago, J. Eugenio (2019), 3D multifractal characterization of computed tomography images of soils under different tillage management: linking multifractal parameters to physical properties. Elsevier. In: , , , . Elsevier, Geoderma, 363: 114129 ISSN: 0016-7061 (Print), 1872-6259 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.114129).
Soto-Gómez, DIego , Vázquez Juíz, Laura, Pérez-Rodríguez, Paula, López-Periago, J. Eugenio , Paradelo, Marcos , Koestel, John (2019), Percolation theory applied to soil tomography. Elsevier. In: , , , . Elsevier, Geoderma, 357: 113959 ISSN: 0016-7061 (Print), 1872-6259 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoderma.2019.113959).
Soto-Gomez, Diego , Perez-Rodriguez, Paula, Vazquez Juiz, Laura, Lopez-Periago, Jose Eugenio , Paradelo Perez, Marcos (2018), A new method to trace colloid transport pathways in macroporous soils using X‐ray computed tomography and fluorescence macrophotography. Wiley. In: , , , . Wiley, European Journal of Soil Science, 70 (3) . pp. 431-442 ISSN: 1351-0754 (Print), 1365-2389 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1111/ejss.12783).
Soto-Gómez, Diego , Pérez-Rodríguez, Paula, Vázquez Juíz, Laura, López-Periago, J. Eugenio , Paradelo, Marcos (2017), Linking pore network characteristics extracted from CT images to the transport of solute and colloid tracers in soils under different tillage managements. Elsevier. In: , , , . Elsevier, Soil and Tillage Research, 177 . pp. 145-154 ISSN: 0167-1987 (Print), 1879-3444 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.still.2017.12.007).
Paradelo, Marcos , Katuwal, Sheela, Moldrup, Per, Norgaard, Trine , Herath, Lasantha , de Jonge, Lis W. (2016), X-ray CT-derived soil characteristics explain varying air, water, and solute transport properties across a loamy field. Soil Science Society of America. In: , , , . Soil Science Society of America, Vadose Zone Journal, 15 (4) . pp. 1-13 ISSN: 1539-1663 (Print), 1539-1663 (Online) (doi: https://doi.org/10.2136/vzj2015.07.0104).