Enhancing crop yields, soil health and local biodiversity through agricultural field flooding

Flooding coastal arable agricultural lands has been shown to improve increase local wildfowl diversity, improve soil health and reduce some types of agricultural pest damage. The extents of the beneficial impacts of this management practice are still unclear, as are the broader impacts on regional biodiversity. This research project will explore a range of temporarily flooded, UK coastal agricultural fields, with an eye towards understanding the impacts on soil health and function, invertebrate and microbial biodiversity, and climate.
Implications of future climate change, including sea level rise and enhanced flooding risk, will be explored in the context of this management practice as well.

Outcomes from this research will inform future land management practices and help establish the most effective means by which these practices can be utilized to accomplish future management and conservation goals.

The student who participates in this research will have the opportunity to engage in cutting edge research across several disciplines, including genomics, bioinformatics and biogeochemistry.

This is a CASE studentship in partnership with RSPB, who have engaged with the farmers and other stakeholders on whose land the research will be based. The student will have the opportunity to develop hypotheses and experiments that build upon previous work, and to develop public engagement skills based on the RSPB’s work.