Dr. Les Lavkulich, Professor Emeritus
Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability / Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC

Les Lavkulich’s research activities contribute to advancing an understanding of fundamental soil processes (pedogenesis) as affected by both natural and anthropogenic factors, at both temporal and spatial scales. Of particular interest is the formation of high specific surface materials that are mainly responsible for sorption, retention and release properties of soils for nutrients, contaminants and pollutants. This research contributes to the necessary understanding of natural soil resilience and inherent capabilities to sustain ecological services, including the carbon, nutrient and water cycles. The research provides an index of the natural capacity of soils to absorb anthropogenic effects and provides a comparison point from which to assess the effects of human impacts on terrestrial ecosystems and the capability of the soil resource to sustain ecosystem management. This experience is applied to other natural resource systems, notably the carbon and hydrological cycles. More recently, Les has been involved in international concerns, sponsored by NATO, focusing on “Integrated Water Basin Management”.