Staff profile

Dr. Tang graduated BAgSc (Hons) from Zhejiang University, China in 1982. He was then appointed as an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Soil Science and Agricultural Chemistry at the same University. After obtaining a scholarship from the University of Western Australia in 1988, he carried out research on the role of iron in nodulation and nitrogen fixation in legumes and was awarded a Ph.D. Since 1991, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition at the University of Western Australia, and was later appointed as a research fellow in the Cooperative Research Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture, and in the Cooperative Research Centre for Plant-Based Management of Dryland Salinity. He joined the staff as a senior lecturer in 2003, and was promoted to Reader and Associate Professor in 2005.

His research covered a wide range of areas including the development of crops for alkaline soils, adaptation of grain legumes and cereal crops to problem soils, management of soil acidity and acidification under legume-based systems, plant mineral nutrition, functioning of naturalized ecosystems in saline environments. His current research interests include soil salinity, soil acidity and acidification, plant-soil interactions, rhizosphere chemistry and plant root exudation, and subsoil constraints. He has supervised many Honours and Ph.D. students, postdoctoral fellows and visiting scientists, and published 110+ papers in refereed international journals, 6 book chapters and 80 conference papers/abstracts. He has been invited to give over 30 talks internationally and to chair conference sessions. Currently, he is an Editorial Board member of international journals “Plant and Soil”, “Environmental & Experimental Botany” and “Australian Journal of Soil Research”, and referee papers for 25 international journals. He currently holds three guest/adjunct professor posts at overseas institutions.

Research interests

• Development of crops for alkaline soils
• Adaptation of grain legumes and cereal crops to problem soils
• Management of soil acidity and acidification under legume-based systems
• Plant mineral nutrition
• Functioning of naturalized ecosystems in saline environments
• Soil salinity, soil acidity and acidification
• Plant-soil interactions, rhizosphere chemistry and plant root exudation, and subsoil constraints

Teaching

• AGR2ILM - Introduction to Land & Soil Management (Coordinator)
• AGR3LSM - Land & Soil Management (Coordinator)
• Postgraduate Coordinator
• Supervising 3 to 5 fourth year/Honours student projects each year

Publications

- view a full list of publications (PDF 127KB)

1. Clark GJ, N Dodgshun, PWG Sale and C Tang (2007) Changes in chemical and biological properties of a sodic clay subsoil with addition of organic amendments. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 39, 2806-2817.
2. Xu JM, C Tang and ZL Chen (2006) The role of plant residues in pH changes of acid soils differing in initial pH. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38: 709-719.
3. Hinsinger P, C Plassard, C Tang and B Jaillard (2003) Origins of root-mediated pH changes in the rhizosphere and their responses to environmental constraints – a review. Plant and Soil 248: 43-59.
4. Tang C, Z Rengel, D Abrecht and D Tennant (2002) Aluminium-tolerant wheat uses more water and yields higher than aluminium-sensitive one on a sandy soil with subsurface acidity. Field Crops Research 78: 93-103.
5. Tang C, P Hinsinger, J-J Drevon and B Jaillard (2001) Phosphorus deficiency impairs early nodule function in Medicago truncatula L. Annals of Botany 88, 131-138.