Saving our lowland peatlands

The studentship aims to understand the factors that will help promote soil retention and nitrogen use efficiency at Rosedene and Redmere. It will also support the NERC SEFLOS project. The specific aims are to (i) understand where the soil loss is happening in the soil profile so that mitigation measures can be targeted effectively, (ii) understand why soil loss rates appear to alter with crop type (i.e. which crops are worst and which are best), (iii) determine how plant residue management strategy influences the speed of peat loss, (iv) understand the role of the underlying clay in regulating peat loss in the degraded peats, (v) evaluate potential strategies to promote more efficient N cycling and retention (e.g. nitrification inhibitors), (vi) respond to requests from G's to investigate soil related issues or the trialling of new products.