Naomi S. Wells
@15nswells.bsky.social
Biogeochemistry, often using stable isotopes, trying to figure out where nitrogen goes (& sometimes also carbon). Working at Lincoln University (New Zealand). Wellesley College alum. Homepage: https://sites.google.com/view/wells-soil-and-water/home
Pretty nice day for exploring field sites in Arthur’s Pass National Park 👩🔬This summer we’re kicking off some new work using a braided river spring complex to figure out how (if?) invasive plants affect stream energy
November 4, 2025 at 9:10 AM
Pretty nice day for exploring field sites in Arthur’s Pass National Park 👩🔬This summer we’re kicking off some new work using a braided river spring complex to figure out how (if?) invasive plants affect stream energy
🤔 not super inspiring really. Usually I like my chemically suppliers to be able to differentiate between chemical compounds. Now I’m doubting myself. Has nitrite really just been a synonym for nitrate all along, missing oxygen be damned????
October 7, 2025 at 9:27 AM
🤔 not super inspiring really. Usually I like my chemically suppliers to be able to differentiate between chemical compounds. Now I’m doubting myself. Has nitrite really just been a synonym for nitrate all along, missing oxygen be damned????
New work out in GRL: greenhouse gas emissions across human-modified land-to-ocean aquatic continuums. We show how storms shift aquatic emission magnitude & pattern. This arose from (completely unplanned!) estuary sampling during a winter storm.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
August 6, 2025 at 3:45 AM
New work out in GRL: greenhouse gas emissions across human-modified land-to-ocean aquatic continuums. We show how storms shift aquatic emission magnitude & pattern. This arose from (completely unplanned!) estuary sampling during a winter storm.
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/...
Today was spent exploring new potential alpine river study sites with Helen, Angus, & Saskia. Back and brimming with so many exciting ideas 🤗👩🔬
(Now just to figure out how to make these ideas happen…)
(Now just to figure out how to make these ideas happen…)
August 5, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Today was spent exploring new potential alpine river study sites with Helen, Angus, & Saskia. Back and brimming with so many exciting ideas 🤗👩🔬
(Now just to figure out how to make these ideas happen…)
(Now just to figure out how to make these ideas happen…)
Wonderfully snowy weekend up around UC’s Cass field station (est 1914!)
June 8, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Wonderfully snowy weekend up around UC’s Cass field station (est 1914!)
If you see this, post the most recent photo of yourself from your camera roll. No cheating!
May 7, 2025 at 9:14 AM
If you see this, post the most recent photo of yourself from your camera roll. No cheating!
Lots of rain in Canterbury over the last two days = decent flow down the cycle path this arvo. (Kayak might have been the better commuting option?)
May 1, 2025 at 8:03 AM
Lots of rain in Canterbury over the last two days = decent flow down the cycle path this arvo. (Kayak might have been the better commuting option?)
Fun teaching day Friday - headed out with Lincoln Uni ag & enviro science students to collect some ‘baseline’ soil health data from the site of our incoming experimental ‘solar farm’ (solar panels + apples, blueberries, & grapes).
Pictured: tea bag burial to get at organic matter turnover
Pictured: tea bag burial to get at organic matter turnover
February 22, 2025 at 11:07 PM
Fun teaching day Friday - headed out with Lincoln Uni ag & enviro science students to collect some ‘baseline’ soil health data from the site of our incoming experimental ‘solar farm’ (solar panels + apples, blueberries, & grapes).
Pictured: tea bag burial to get at organic matter turnover
Pictured: tea bag burial to get at organic matter turnover
Back up in the Magdalen Valley (Lewis Pass) working with our final year environmental science students to explore carbon landscape dynamics (and all things soils science) - highlight of the teaching year!
January 28, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Back up in the Magdalen Valley (Lewis Pass) working with our final year environmental science students to explore carbon landscape dynamics (and all things soils science) - highlight of the teaching year!
Great to be back in the field today revisiting sites on the Selwyn Waikirikiri today. Bright side of this wet Canterbury summer: flowing water (& lots of algae!) in the lower reaches again for the first time in over a year
January 17, 2025 at 5:00 AM
Great to be back in the field today revisiting sites on the Selwyn Waikirikiri today. Bright side of this wet Canterbury summer: flowing water (& lots of algae!) in the lower reaches again for the first time in over a year
Returned from summer adventures and now back into science (trying to hold off the ‘work’ parts of work for a few more days yet). This year I’m aiming to spend less time doomed about our future and more having fun in our present 🤞
January 9, 2025 at 8:53 PM
Returned from summer adventures and now back into science (trying to hold off the ‘work’ parts of work for a few more days yet). This year I’m aiming to spend less time doomed about our future and more having fun in our present 🤞
Second day out at the OZ-NZ-Pacific Soil Judging Comp in Rotorua. Amazing volcanic formations! Amazing keen students! So much soil wisdom
on offer!
(But pedology, still not for me 🫣)
on offer!
(But pedology, still not for me 🫣)
November 30, 2024 at 2:40 AM
Second day out at the OZ-NZ-Pacific Soil Judging Comp in Rotorua. Amazing volcanic formations! Amazing keen students! So much soil wisdom
on offer!
(But pedology, still not for me 🫣)
on offer!
(But pedology, still not for me 🫣)
On the ferry today crossing the Cook Straight to resume my slow travel up to Rotorua for NZFSS & NZSSS (after a stopover in Picton to visit family).
Why? I’m testing out how NZ might be able to have meaningful, in-person conferences w/out massive carbon footprints
Why? I’m testing out how NZ might be able to have meaningful, in-person conferences w/out massive carbon footprints
November 17, 2024 at 10:52 AM
On the ferry today crossing the Cook Straight to resume my slow travel up to Rotorua for NZFSS & NZSSS (after a stopover in Picton to visit family).
Why? I’m testing out how NZ might be able to have meaningful, in-person conferences w/out massive carbon footprints
Why? I’m testing out how NZ might be able to have meaningful, in-person conferences w/out massive carbon footprints
The first leg of my ‘conference season’ journey is underway - on the train to Picton, then on to Rotorua for NZ Freshwater Sciences & NZ Soil Sciences
November 13, 2024 at 9:35 PM
The first leg of my ‘conference season’ journey is underway - on the train to Picton, then on to Rotorua for NZ Freshwater Sciences & NZ Soil Sciences
So excited to see Emmi Kurosawa's work on the dietary habits of bladderworts published! This work started back in 2019 when Emmi contacted me & Jo Oakes wondering 'could isotopes help me figure out how carnivorous carnivorous plants really are?' academic.oup.com/aob/advance-...
September 30, 2024 at 11:21 PM
So excited to see Emmi Kurosawa's work on the dietary habits of bladderworts published! This work started back in 2019 when Emmi contacted me & Jo Oakes wondering 'could isotopes help me figure out how carnivorous carnivorous plants really are?' academic.oup.com/aob/advance-...
watching ambient N2O levels spike while driving around Aotearoa’s biggest wastewater treatment plant 🤓
(in other news, real-time LICOR readings: still the most exciting phone feature going?)
(in other news, real-time LICOR readings: still the most exciting phone feature going?)
September 24, 2024 at 10:29 AM
watching ambient N2O levels spike while driving around Aotearoa’s biggest wastewater treatment plant 🤓
(in other news, real-time LICOR readings: still the most exciting phone feature going?)
(in other news, real-time LICOR readings: still the most exciting phone feature going?)
But so frustratingly hard to visually capture their complexity from anything approaching a ground-level view!
Pictured: South Branch of the Ashburton Hakatere
Pictured: South Branch of the Ashburton Hakatere
July 3, 2024 at 3:29 AM
But so frustratingly hard to visually capture their complexity from anything approaching a ground-level view!
Pictured: South Branch of the Ashburton Hakatere
Pictured: South Branch of the Ashburton Hakatere
Wintery day out with Gen measuring nitrogen cycling across grassland-forest transitions. Gen’s MSc research is trying to figure out if tree clusters & shelter belts in paddocks can help decrease animal ag N2O emissions - stay tuned for results!
June 26, 2024 at 9:48 AM
Wintery day out with Gen measuring nitrogen cycling across grassland-forest transitions. Gen’s MSc research is trying to figure out if tree clusters & shelter belts in paddocks can help decrease animal ag N2O emissions - stay tuned for results!
Night sampling on the Orari River
(& 95% of the equipment even worked this time around)
(& 95% of the equipment even worked this time around)
February 14, 2024 at 9:03 AM
Night sampling on the Orari River
(& 95% of the equipment even worked this time around)
(& 95% of the equipment even worked this time around)
Sunrise over our field equipment on the Ashley Rakahuri last week.
Looks peaceful. But almost everything (tho thankfully not everyone!) broke at some point over the 24 h. Still pulled through & collected everything we needed to help figure out how nitrogen & carbon move through braided rivers 😅
Looks peaceful. But almost everything (tho thankfully not everyone!) broke at some point over the 24 h. Still pulled through & collected everything we needed to help figure out how nitrogen & carbon move through braided rivers 😅
February 10, 2024 at 10:02 AM
Sunrise over our field equipment on the Ashley Rakahuri last week.
Looks peaceful. But almost everything (tho thankfully not everyone!) broke at some point over the 24 h. Still pulled through & collected everything we needed to help figure out how nitrogen & carbon move through braided rivers 😅
Looks peaceful. But almost everything (tho thankfully not everyone!) broke at some point over the 24 h. Still pulled through & collected everything we needed to help figure out how nitrogen & carbon move through braided rivers 😅
I’m up in Lewis Pass this week with the final year Lincoln Uni environmental science students (& @timcurran.bsky.social) helping them develop & implement their own research. So cool to see their ideas coalesce! This year they’re measuring how invasive willows influence wetland soil carbon storage.
January 31, 2024 at 8:57 AM
I’m up in Lewis Pass this week with the final year Lincoln Uni environmental science students (& @timcurran.bsky.social) helping them develop & implement their own research. So cool to see their ideas coalesce! This year they’re measuring how invasive willows influence wetland soil carbon storage.
It finally happened! After literally years spent figuring out (stressing out) about how to meaningfully (& safely) measure N2O dynamics in NZ’s ‘big’ braided rivers today @LincolnUniNZ PhD student Mohammad, w help from @NebelMicha & Jack, started in on the mighty Rakaia 🌊👨🔬💥
January 26, 2024 at 9:02 AM
It finally happened! After literally years spent figuring out (stressing out) about how to meaningfully (& safely) measure N2O dynamics in NZ’s ‘big’ braided rivers today @LincolnUniNZ PhD student Mohammad, w help from @NebelMicha & Jack, started in on the mighty Rakaia 🌊👨🔬💥
Unexpected Friday visitors on the Ashley Rakahuri River (the scientists or the cows????)
January 20, 2024 at 12:00 AM
Unexpected Friday visitors on the Ashley Rakahuri River (the scientists or the cows????)
Thx Annika, Kathrin, & Meila for a magical two weeks collecting mosses down the west coast of the South Island, from Mt Glasgow to Dore Pass. Ambitious plans + perfect* weather + abundant bryophytes + badass team = A+ science-ing. Can’t wait to see our N fixation results!
*for humans not mosses 🌞
*for humans not mosses 🌞
January 17, 2024 at 9:43 AM
Thx Annika, Kathrin, & Meila for a magical two weeks collecting mosses down the west coast of the South Island, from Mt Glasgow to Dore Pass. Ambitious plans + perfect* weather + abundant bryophytes + badass team = A+ science-ing. Can’t wait to see our N fixation results!
*for humans not mosses 🌞
*for humans not mosses 🌞
Two sites down, one to go!
We’ve collected moss up to the tree line in Kahurangi & central Westland, & now we’re heading south to Fiordland (Dore Pass). We’re testing if these mosses fix nitrogen, & how this will change in a warming world.
See Kathrin’s profile for more: x.com/kathrin_rous...
We’ve collected moss up to the tree line in Kahurangi & central Westland, & now we’re heading south to Fiordland (Dore Pass). We’re testing if these mosses fix nitrogen, & how this will change in a warming world.
See Kathrin’s profile for more: x.com/kathrin_rous...
January 14, 2024 at 12:26 AM
Two sites down, one to go!
We’ve collected moss up to the tree line in Kahurangi & central Westland, & now we’re heading south to Fiordland (Dore Pass). We’re testing if these mosses fix nitrogen, & how this will change in a warming world.
See Kathrin’s profile for more: x.com/kathrin_rous...
We’ve collected moss up to the tree line in Kahurangi & central Westland, & now we’re heading south to Fiordland (Dore Pass). We’re testing if these mosses fix nitrogen, & how this will change in a warming world.
See Kathrin’s profile for more: x.com/kathrin_rous...