Owen Duckworth

About

Owen Duckworth is a Professor and Director of Soil Science Graduate Programs in the Department of Crop and Soil Sciences at NC State University. His research focuses on the activity of microbes and their impact on the biogeochemical flow of nutrients and contaminants in the environment. His work primarily investigates the thermodynamics and kinetics of aqueous and interfacial reactions involving biogenic exudates, contributing to the understanding of the biogeochemical cycling of natural and anthropogenic species. Dr. Duckworth employs a multidisciplinary approach that combines traditional wet-chemical, field, and microbiological methods with modern spectroscopic, microscopic, genetic, and theoretical techniques. This integrated methodology aims to elucidate mechanisms and reaction pathways on molecular to macroscopic scales, advancing knowledge in soil and environmental biogeochemistry.

Research topics

• Chemistry
• Ecology
• Organic chemistry
• Biology
• Environmental chemistry
• Environmental science
• Agronomy
• Soil science
• Nuclear chemistry
• Geology

Selected publications

• Emerging lanthanum (III)-containing materials for phosphate removal from water: A review towards future developments

  Environment International · 2020 · 119 citations

  O), all of which reduce the bioavailability of La in aquatic environments. Overall, LM use presents a low risk of adverse effects in water with pH > 7 and moderate-to-high bicarbonate alkalinity, although caution should be applied when considering LM use in aquatic systems with acidic pH values and low bicarbonate alkalinity. Moving forward, we recommend additional research dedicated to understanding La release from LM under diverse environmental conditions as well as long-term exposures on ecol…

  DOI

• Accessing Legacy Phosphorus in Soils

  Soil Systems · 2020 · 102 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  Repeated applications of phosphorus (P) fertilizers result in the buildup of P in soil (commonly known as legacy P), a large fraction of which is not immediately available for plant use. Long-term applications and accumulations of soil P is an inefficient use of dwindling P supplies and can result in nutrient runoff, often leading to eutrophication of water bodies. Although soil legacy P is problematic in some regards, it conversely may serve as a source of P for crop use and could potentially d…

  DOI

• Influence of natural organic matter and pH on phosphate removal by and filterable lanthanum release from lanthanum-modified bentonite

  Water Research · 2021 · 69 citations

  PublisherDOI

• The phosphorus challenge: biotechnology approaches for a sustainable phosphorus system

  Current Opinion in Biotechnology · 2024-09-19 · 22 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Phosphorus (P) is essential for growing crops, but the supply of high-quality phosphate rock reserves used for fertilizer production is finite while losses of P from the food/waste system cause considerable environmental damage. A variety of emerging approaches in biotechnology are reviewed that hold promise for improving the sustainability of P use in the food/water systems. These include improved sensors, cell culture approaches to meat production, bio-based P adsorption and transformation str…

  PublisherDOI

• Global-to-Local Dependencies in Phosphorus Mass Flows and Markets: Pathways to Improving System Resiliency in Response to Exogenous Shocks

  Environmental Science & Technology Letters · 2024-05-07 · 19 citations

  articleOpen access

  Uneven global distribution of phosphate rock deposits and the supply chains to transport phosphorus (P) make P fertilizers vulnerable to exogenous shocks, including commodity market shocks; extreme weather events or natural disasters; and geopolitical instability, such as trade disputes, disruption of shipping routes, and war. Understanding bidirectional risk transmission (global-to-local and local-to-global) in P supply and consumption chains is thus essential. Ignoring P system interdependenci…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• Elucidating the Effects of Structure on the Redox Reactivity of Mycogenic Mn Oxide Nanoparticles

  NSF · $415k · 2014–2019

• CAREER: Assessing the Reactivity and Diversity of Neutrophilic Iron-Oxidizing Bacteria in Terrestrial Aquatic Environments

  NSF · $400k · 2013–2019

• Defining Critical Roles of Siderophore Structures in Environmental Trace Metal Cycling

  NSF · $297k · 2009–2013

Frequent coauthors

• Scot T. Martin

  Harvard University Press

  28 shared

• Garrison Sposito

  University of California, Berkeley

  25 shared

• John Bargar

  Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

  22 shared

• Matthew L. Polizzotto

  University of Oregon

  17 shared

• James M. Harrington

  RTI International

  14 shared

• Megan Y. Andrews

  University of Southampton

  10 shared

• Detlef R.U. Knappe

  North Carolina State University

  10 shared

• Aziz Amoozegar

  North Carolina State University

  10 shared

Similar researchers at North Carolina State University

• Alan Franzluebbersh-79
• Gina Brown-Guedirah-51
• Ralph Deweyh-34