Turning down the gas: what is the potential for microbial mitigation of methane leakage from soils?

Public concern over the effects of fracking for shale gas regularly hits the headlines. One of the environmental concerns is methane leaking into drinking water, soils or the atmosphere. The soil microbial community has the potential to consume methane in situ, but aspects of this bioremediation process are not well understood. In this project you will use a range of microbiological, geochemical and gas transport techniques to study methane cycling in soils, identify environmental controls on methane emissions and develop strategies to reduce these emissions. The two main questions we hope this research will be able to answer are “What is the capacity of the soil microbes to consume methane under different conditions?” and “Can changes to microbial communities in soils identify new methane leaks?” This work will contribute to the scientific understanding of the environmental impacts of fracking and address some of the public concerns surrounding this activity.

Applicants should hold a minimum of a UK Honours Degree at 2:1 level or equivalent in an environmental, earth or biological sciences subject. This is a multidisciplinary project and will suit students from a range of backgrounds. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate an interest in, or experience of, some of the following: environmental microbiology/microbial ecology, molecular biological lab techniques (e.g. DNA extraction, PCR, DNA sequencing), gas chromatography, gas transport modelling or geochemical numerical modelling.

For further details please contact Dr Simon Gregory: [Email Address Removed], Prof George Shaw: [Email Address Removed] or Dr Barbara Palumbo-Roe: [Email Address Removed]

This project is part the STARS CDT (www.starsoil.org.uk ) and will be registered at the University of Nottingham.