Ian Palk
@ianpalk.bsky.social
PhD student in PSB Group at Trinity College Dublin studying soil respiration & plant-soil interfaces | Building novel & accessible sensors for field deployment | Harvard alum | Climate researcher who loves tinkering with electronics & science communication
Reposted by Ian Palk
My favourite aspect of our research is interdiscipinarity. Thinking about plant physiology, global change, machine learning, instrument building, then deep in irish winter mud as we install some more minirhizotron tubes with @ianpalk.bsky.social and @ryanbrennan.bsky.social Cool science coming up!
November 7, 2025 at 5:35 PM
My favourite aspect of our research is interdiscipinarity. Thinking about plant physiology, global change, machine learning, instrument building, then deep in irish winter mud as we install some more minirhizotron tubes with @ianpalk.bsky.social and @ryanbrennan.bsky.social Cool science coming up!
If you're curious what I'm up to, I'm working on engineering new and improved technology for an automated minirhizotron! This will be a crucial instrument for my PhD research on soil respiration. Follow my progress on @psb-trinity.bsky.social!
#rootecology #ecology
#rootecology #ecology
Building on the @richardnair.bsky.social et al. 2023 automated minirhizotron paper (doi.org/10.1093/jxb/erac427), we're back at it with v2.0!
It's still a pile of wires on the bench, but we're upgrading both the hardware and the neural networks.
First installations of v2.0 are coming this winter!
It's still a pile of wires on the bench, but we're upgrading both the hardware and the neural networks.
First installations of v2.0 are coming this winter!
November 4, 2025 at 12:55 PM
If you're curious what I'm up to, I'm working on engineering new and improved technology for an automated minirhizotron! This will be a crucial instrument for my PhD research on soil respiration. Follow my progress on @psb-trinity.bsky.social!
#rootecology #ecology
#rootecology #ecology
Reposted by Ian Palk
I completely agree with this! It's so hard to understand the belowground and the world is big and variable so overall accuracy over a big sample may get us closer to useful truth. We need to be cautious we're actually making measurements to a reasonable standard but more precise =/= always better!
New on the Belowground blog: Perfection versus feasibility in belowground ecology plantlifebelowground.wordpress.com/2025/10/29/l...
Life Lessons in Root Identification
Commentary by S. Grady Welsh from Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, USA. The photo above shows members of the Tumber-Dávila Lab learning to sieve roots and soil. Photo by Shersingh Joseph Tumber-Dá…
plantlifebelowground.wordpress.com
October 29, 2025 at 5:30 PM
I completely agree with this! It's so hard to understand the belowground and the world is big and variable so overall accuracy over a big sample may get us closer to useful truth. We need to be cautious we're actually making measurements to a reasonable standard but more precise =/= always better!
Reposted by Ian Palk
My amazing research group @psb-trinity.bsky.social made their own bluesky account (@psb-trinity.bsky.social) as I'm not active enough!! Please give them a follow for info about things we're doing on #rootecology and #biogeochemistry here in Botany at @tcddublin.bsky.social 🌍🌿🌳
October 24, 2025 at 11:52 AM
My amazing research group @psb-trinity.bsky.social made their own bluesky account (@psb-trinity.bsky.social) as I'm not active enough!! Please give them a follow for info about things we're doing on #rootecology and #biogeochemistry here in Botany at @tcddublin.bsky.social 🌍🌿🌳