This project is one of a number that are in competition for funding from the NERC Great Western Four+ Doctoral Training Partnership (GW4+ DTP). The GW4+ DTP consists of the Great Western Four alliance of the University of Bath, University of Bristol, Cardiff University and the University of Exeter plus five Research Organisation partners: British Antarctic Survey, British Geological Survey, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Natural History Museum and Plymouth Marine Laboratory. The partnership aims to provide a broad training in earth and environmental sciences, designed to train tomorrow’s leaders in earth and environmental science. For further details about the programme please see http://nercgw4plus.ac.uk/
Project details
Project Background Recent experimental work from this team has demonstrated the large potential from rainforest species from the genus Inga to be a success for tropical rainforest restoration and agroforestry in poor degraded soils outcompeting invading species and weeds. As part of a natural warming experiment in montane tropical systems, our team has also found that Inga species are able to cope much better with heat than their montane counterparts. Using 14 of the 26 most dominant Andean species, our results demonstrate that Inga species grow best under elevated temperatures. These species are therefore highly suitable for restoration of the tropical montane forest. Furthermore, since Inga species belong to the legume family, they fix atmospheric nitrogen and have also been used in agroforestry systems providing a natural fertilizer for crops1,2 and are also important intermediate succession tropical rain forest species. Most of the existing data demonstrating their success consist of growth and genetic data, but the plant physiological data that allows understanding of the mechanisms that enable Inga species to outperform other species is not available. Gaining an in depth understanding of how Inga species can thrive in poor degraded soils and hot and dry environments will allow us to predict their functioning under various current and future environmental conditions and thus evaluate their capacity for rain and montane forest restoration and tree-based agricultural systems under different environments and future climates.
Project Aims and Methods The project will make use of two existing experimental setups in South America (Colombian Andes and Brazilian Amazon, Mato Grosso) with availability of Inga species. The set up in the Andes (plantation of 14 dominant Andean tree species on a thermosequence across 3 elevations) will allow to disentangle plant physiological responses to heat stress and drought using four dominant Andean Inga species. The set up in the Brazilian Amazon will allow to characterise plant physiological traits across seven Inga species growing on poor/degraded soils as part of a growth trial or small-scale agroforestry systems. The successful candidate will use state of the art photosynthetic equipment to take plant physiological measurements and combine with existing growth data to aid understanding of whole plant processes. There is also the opportunity to perform a modelling application if candidate is interested and time allows.
Candidate requirements We look for a strongly motivated candidate with understanding of plant carbon-climate interactions. The student should be able to work in the field under hot/humid but also challenging conditions. The candidate should be numerically skilled with experience with data analysis and coding in either R, python or similar programming languages.
Project partners Collaboration with Kew gardens allows access to the Inga experimental facility in Brazil and will contribute will help to ensure that this PhD project achieves maximum wider impacts.
Training In addition to generic skills such as oral presentations, scientific writing and project management, the student will receive specific training on i) Methods needed for plant physiological measurements and designing an experimental protocol for fieldwork, ii) Python or R coding and data (statistical) analysis required for data collected.
Useful links
For information relating to the research project please contact the lead Supervisor via [Email Address Removed] (https://andeantreewarming.wordpress.com , http://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/ingasystems/)
Eligibility
NERC GW4+ DTP studentships are open to UK and Irish nationals who, if successful in their applications, will receive a full studentship including payment of university tuition fees at the home fees rate.
A limited number of full studentships are also available to international students which are defined as EU (excluding Irish nationals), EEA, Swiss and all other non-UK nationals. For further details please see the NERC GW4+ website.
Those not meeting the nationality and residency requirements to be treated as a ‘home’ student may apply for a limited number of full studentships for international students. Although international students are usually charged a higher tuition fee rate than ‘home’ students, those international students offered a NERC GW4+ Doctoral Training Partnership full studentship starting in 2022 will only be charged the ‘home’ tuition fee rate (which will be covered by the studentship).
International applicants need to be aware that you will have to cover the cost of your student visa, healthcare surcharge and other costs of moving to the UK to do a PhD. More information on this is available from the universities you are applying to (contact details are provided in the project description that you are interested in.
The conditions for eligibility of home fees status are complex and you will need to seek advice if you have moved to or from the UK (or Republic of Ireland) within the past 3 years or have applied for settled status under the EU Settlement Scheme.
How to apply
In order to formally apply for the PhD Project you will need to go to the following web page.
https://www.exeter.ac.uk/study/funding/award/?id=4247
The closing date for applications is 1600 hours GMT on Friday 10th January 2022.
Interviews will be held between 28th February and 4th March 2022.
If you have any general enquiries about the application process please email [Email Address Removed] or phone: 0300 555 60 60 (UK callers) or +44 (0) 1392 723044 (EU/International callers). Project-specific queries should be directed to the main supervisor.