Evaluation of the relative importance to carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling of root exudation, and turnover of roots and mycorrhizas

Understanding what controls the storage of carbon in soils and the cycling of plant nutrients is critical to both maintenance of the natural environment and to feeding the world’s population sustainably. This PhD aims to fill a major gap in our knowledge of how plants interact with soil microbes at the soil-root interface (the rhizosphere). Soil is a highly complex, opaque matrix which has hampered scientific investigations. Consequently, the rhizosphere remains a place where there is still scope for many discoveries. The student undertaking this research will receive training in a range of state-of-the-art techniques including visualisation of roots growing in soil by X-ray Computed Tomography, and use of both stable and radioactive isotopes to trace the fluxes of carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus through the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. They will use laboratory and field experiments to explore the relative importance to carbon sequestration and nutrient cycling of root exudation, and turnover of roots and mycorrhizas at a range of scales. This studentship will allow the student to see how investigation of what takes place in a few cubic millimetres of soil feeds into wider agricultural and environmental policy. The student will be based at Bangor University, in the Environment Centre Wales building with its dedicated radioisotope and microbiological laboratories, and have links with the Universities of Nottingham where X-ray Tomography will take place and Southampton where world-leading mathematical modelling of rhizosphere fluxes will be utilised to enhance the value of experimental data. An enthusiastic and committed candidate will have an opportunity to develop expert knowledge in a scientific field which underlies environmental policy and is critical to predictions of future climate and nutrient availability. You will contribute to a growing and enthusiastic multi-disciplinary research team and to the next generation of soil and plant scientists.