Dr Mark Bartlett
Academic Fellow
Location: Building 53, Cranfield campus
E: m.d.bartlett@cranfield.ac.uk
T: +44 (0)1234 750111 x2778
Natural Resources
Current activities
- soil ecology of sports surfaces
- earthworm ecology and species diversity assessments
- sustainable controls of earthworms and other pests in sports surfaces
- soil microbial ecology
- the quantification of sports surface performance.
Clients
- Race Course Association Ltd.
- The Institute of Groundsmanship
- The England and Wales Cricket Board
- Farmers Club Charitable Trust
- Turfgrass Growers Association.
Background
Dr Mark Bartlett graduated in Biological Sciences from the University of Durham in 2001 and subsequently studied for an MSc in Environmental Consultancy at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Mark leads the programme in Sustainable Sports Surfaces within the Centre for Sports Surface Technology. His principal research interests lie in investigating the importance of soil biota and function in sports surfaces; investigating how to design new sports surfaces, and modify existing facilities to produce more sustainable surfaces; and the investigation of the soil properties required to maintain high quality playing surfaces. His area of expertise is in measurement systems and the modelling of environmental organization and structure. Recent research topics have included trials of frost protection covers for whole racecourses; the ecology and distribution of anecic earthworm species on UK golf courses in order to identify potential sustainable control mechanisms; assessments of soil carbon modelling in turf grass farming and sports facilities; and the quantification of the playing quality of natural turf sports surfaces. In addition, Mark is a member of the British Society of Soil Science and Institute of Biology and a member of the BSi committee for topsoils.
Selected publications
- Bartlett, M.D., James, I.T., Ford, M., and Jennings-Temple, M. (2008). Testing natural turf sports surfaces: the value of performance quality standards. Journal of Sports Engineering and Technology. In press.
- Bartlett, M.D., James, I.T., Harris, J.A. and Ritz, K. (2008). Size and phenotypic structure of microbial communities within soil profiles in relation to different playing areas on a UK golf course. European Journal of Soil Science. In press.
- Bartlett, M.D., James, I.T., Harris, J.A. and Ritz, K. (2008). Earthworm community structure on five English golf courses. Applied Soil Ecology 39: 336-341.
- Bartlett, M.D., James, I.T., Harris, J.A., and Ritz, K. (2007). Interactions between microbial community structure and the soil environment found on golf courses. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 39: 1533-1541.
- Bartlett, M.D., Harris, J.A., James, I.T., and Ritz, K. (2006). Inefficiency of mustard extraction technique for assessing size and structure of earthworm communities in UK pastures. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 38: 2990 – 2992.
- Bartlett, M.D., James, I.T., Harris, J.A. and Ritz, K. (2008). Estimating species richness of earthworms on golf courses and implications for innovating environmentally benign control methods – Acta Horticulturea 783: 475-480
- James, I.T. and Bartlett, M.D. (2008). Environmental costs of a football pitch construction and maintenance: Soil carbon balances. p 101-102. In: M. Volterrani et al. (eds) The proceedings of 1st European Turfgrass Society Conference.
