Prof S Sitch, Dr L Mercado, Dr Alex Cheeseman
No more applications being accepted
Competition Funded PhD Project (European/UK Students Only)
About the Project
Location: University of Exeter, Streatham Campus, Exeter EX4 4QJ.
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:
Agriculture is an important source of greenhouse gases (GHGs) which accounts for ~10% of global warming. Some GHGs, e.g. CO2 and tropospheric ozone (O3) have physiological impacts on the agricultural crop productivity. O3 is the third most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas and is a global air pollutant responsible for an estimated $14-$26 billion loss in crop yield each year.
The focus of this project is on sugarcane, an important tropical crop in the production of raw sugar and has feedstock for ethanol (biofuel) production. Globally 1,88 million metric tons of raw sugar are produced annually, with the global sugar market worth ~ $100 billion/year.
The project leverages access to experiments from ongoing NERC funded project on investigating impacts of O3 on tropical productivity in Cairns, Australia.
Project Aims
The aim of this project is to investigate the individual and combined effects of CO2, O3 on sugarcane physiology and productivity. Experiments for this project will be conducted at the controlled environment greenhouses, housed at JCU in Cairns, Australia. Sugarcane plants will be exposed to CO2, O3 in isolation and in combination. A set of physiological measurements will be collected to elucidate individual and combined effects. Leaf and canopy traits, photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency will be characterised in the field and in greenhouse experiments. Finally, based on the obtained empirical understanding, a conceptual model of the key processes affecting sugarcane physiology and productivity will be devised, with aim to implement into the JULES Land Environmental Simulator and UK Earth-System-Model at the MetOffice.
The project leverages access to experiments investigating impacts of O3 on tropical tree and crop physiology and productivity at the controlled environment greenhouses, housed at JCU in Cairns, Australia.
There is significant flexibility in this project. The student could potentially modify the experimental design to include Biogenic Volatile-Organic-Compound (BVOC) emissions and ozone interactions. Also the student can decide to focus entirely on the empirical work, or the large-scale modelling of plant-ozone interactions, or a combination.
Funding Notes
“NERC GW4+ funded studentship available for September 2019 entry. For eligible students, the studentship will provide funding of fees and a stipend which is currently £14,777 per annum for 2018-19.
Eligibility;
Students from EU countries who do not meet the residency requirements may still be eligible for a fees-only award but no stipend. Applicants who are classed as International for tuition fee purposes are not eligible for funding.”
References
Ainsworth et al., 2012.The effects of tropospheric ozone on net primary productivity and implications for climate change. Annu. Rev. Plant Biol. 63:637–61.
Sitch et al., 2007.Indirect radiative forcing of climate change through ozone effects on the land-carbon sink. Nature. 448:791-794.
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