Long term development of earthworm communities in naturally colonised, compared to planted woodland

Forest Research (FR) has been investigating newly planted trees, areas of natural tree colonisation, and mature woodland, in research that has made use of matched chronosequence sites (from 5 to 60 years old) from across England (n>35 of triplicated sites). To date, this work has revealed interesting findings with respect to aboveground tree diversity, biomass, and structure, in addition to belowground carbon status, nutrient content, and specific aspects of biodiversity (bacteria, fungi, mesofauna, and nematodes).

The proposed research will build upon this network of sites and link with the DEFRA Nature of Climate Fund and is a collaboration between FR and the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan). This project aims to investigate a further aspect of biodiversity, namely earthworms, within these chronosequence sites. As earthworms are ecosystem engineers, they are likely to have a major impact on soil dynamics and ecosystem functioning.

The student will gain from expertise of soil ecology at UCLan and that of soil biogeochemistry and trees at Forest Research. The existing sites have already provided large amounts of baseline (soil) data on which the student can build. Earthworms will form a major part of this project and demonstrate the ecosystem services that they provide.

Specific objectives will Investigate:

• Time-related effects of woodland maturation (chronosequence use) on development of earthworm communities.
• Type of woodland development (planted / natural colonisation / mature forest) on earthworm-related parameters.
• Tree-soil-earthworm interactions and ecosystem services.
• Role of earthworms in the soil food web across the different woodland settings.

Students holding DTC Studentships are encouraged to take up opportunities for gain teaching experience within the remit of the DTC Stipend up to a maximum of 6 hours class contact per week.

Research Student Specification

Education/ Qualifications

Essential:

• Good BSc Honours degree, or equivalent, in Ecology / Environmental Science / Forestry or similar

Desirable:

• Research-related Masters degree in an ecological / environmental subject area

Experience

Essential:

• Experience of undertaking quantitative research studies
• Experience of working in the field and ability to collect soil-related samples for lab analysis
• Experience in data handling, including interpretation and use of analytical software packages

Desirable:

• Identification skills of soil organisms (specifically earthworms)
• Field and laboratory work relating directly to soil and soil organisms. Experience of analytical techniques.
• Use of appropriate software packages

Skills/Abilities

Essential:

• Ability to work as part of a team and willingness to work at different locations in the UK
• Full car driving licence
• Numerate and computer literate
• Excellent oral and written presentation and communication skills
• Ability to work on own initiative

Desirable:

• Experience at writing reports / journal articles
• Experience of presentation at national conferences

School – Engineering and Computing

Centre -Ecological Engineering

Proposed Director of Studies – krbutt@uclan.ac.uk

Duration of Studentship – 3.5 years