1. Department of Mathematics, Shanxi University, China, June 17, 2019. Title of the lecture "Organization of nitrogen biogeochemical pathways underground".

2. School of Energy and Environment, Southeast University, China, 4 lectures from June 10-14, 2019. Title of the lecture "Limiting Resource-Diversity-Functioning of the Systems (R-D-FS) framework and ecological regulation". 

An interdisciplinary, international study reveals a new way fertiliser overuse could affect the soil. The team, led by two researchers from the Central University of Rajasthan, predicts that overusing ammonium in crop fields could throw the soil's natural nitrogen cycle off balance.

The demand for nitrogen, a key component of all proteins and so an element sought after by plants, is generally met by the nitrogen cycle. This is a natural intricate web of chemical reactions supplying nitrogen in various forms across different environments. Plants, bacteria and fungi work to keep the cycle effective by curating organic nitrogen in the soil system. Although other harmful effects of fertiliser overuse - like groundwater pollution - have been known, the study (https://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/4/1/160768) illustrates the consequences for the soil's natural nitrogen circulation mechanism. "Overuse [of fertilisers] could stop key reactions in the nitrogen cycle and make plants depend on an artificial source," Amit Chakraborty, the corresponding author of the published study, told The Wire. He suggested that rampant fertiliser use was one of the main reasons urban and semiurban areas struggled to maintain green cover.