Underpinning marine spatial planning of Blue Carbon resources; Orkney Islands Catchment Audit case study

Orkney Islands is a useful location on which to base a Blue Carbon planning project pilot because it has a variety of Blue Carbon habitats occurring in a discrete area. Some of the habitats are well documented, for others the boundaries are less clear. Habitats include Kelp forests, Maerl beds, Horse Mussel beds, Flame Shell beds, Seagrass meadows, Brittlestar beds and Bryozoan thickets. A recent MASTS funded case study project, allowed a series of workshops to take place, where stakeholders from Orkney and beyond were able to identify key knowledge gaps and opportunities on the topics of Blue Carbon, which may be significant for evidence based future management planning. Some of the gaps identified, were overlapping with interests from the local Marine Planning Team and from Orkney Islands Council interests via the Biodiversity Action Plan. New resources now becoming available from Marine Scotland Science through Scotland Shelf Model and sub domain models, along with outputs from the EPSRC funded ECOWATT 2050 programme mean that some of the identified knowledge gaps could now be addressed to complete an Orkney Islands Blue Carbon Audit as a pilot for Scottish waters.

Significant knowledge gaps include understanding of the fluxes of certain Blue Carbon habitat types. Also the amount of carbon stored in specific but understudied blue carbon habitat types is still not clear, as well as underestimates of some habitats where further field study is needed. Examples include Horse mussel reef depth, maerl reef depth, Flame shell bed depth, Brittlestar bed carbon content and extent, seagrass meadow fluxes, Bryozoan thicket carbon content and flux to name a few. In this project we propose to develop a Carbon Audit for Orkney and Scapa Flow waters, alongside the Orkney Islands Council Marine Planning Team who are developing the regional marine plan. Part of the work will involve developing the approach to the audit using tools from the ECOWATT 2050 project to build an ecosystem model and the other part of the project will involve fieldwork to fill in some of the data gaps in knowledge regarding the specific blue carbon habitats. The Orkney Islands positioned with the Living Laboratory of Scapa Flow provide the ideal location to tackle this first regional Blue Carbon Audit.

We envisage that the project can benefit from and build upon outputs from the recent tender opportunity from Scottish Government on a similar topic area. Dr Richard Bates (University of St Andrews) and Professor John Baxter (Scottish Blue Carbon Forum) are co-supervisors to this project and Professor Baxter is the Chair of the recently launched Scottish Government Scottish Blue Carbon Forum; this acts as a focal point for all the blue carbon work in Scotland. Other external PhD advisors contributing to this project are Mary Spencer Jones (Natural History Museum London) and Dr Gareth Davies (Aquatera Ltd). They will provide access to specialist facilities for carbon analysis and mapping (respectively).

Applicants should have a first-class honours degree or a 2.1 honours degree plus Masters (or equivalent) in a relevant subject (marine science, marine biology). Although desirable, an MSc is not mandatory. Highly motivated applicants with a strong background in benthic ecology and in handling large datasets using GIS and modelling approaches are particularly encouraged to apply. It would be desirable for candidates to be able to participate in scientific diving and in working out at sea on boats using drop down video or other survey equipment. Scholarships will be awarded by competitive merit, taking into account the academic ability of the applicant.

To apply you must complete our online application form. Please select PhD Environment (Orkney campus) and include the full project title, reference number and supervisor on your application form. You must also provide a CV, a supporting statement, a copy of your degree certificate, relevant transcripts and an academic reference. For further information about this project please contact Dr Joanne Porter [Email Address Removed]

As part of a SUPER DTP Cohort you will be enrolled in the SUPER Graduate School and onto the SUPER Post Graduate Certificate in Researcher Professional Development. The formal start date is 30th September and you will be expected to attend a SUPER DTP induction event in Glasgow on 1st October.