Grazing and disturbance as management tools in coastal wetlands: consequences for soil organic matter, biodiversity and functional resilience.

Sand dune wetlands or slacks are biodiverse habitats supporting many rare UK plant, invertebrate and vertebrate species. They are a priority habitat for nature conservation in Europe. Grazing and disturbance are important for maintaining this conservation value. Our knowledge, however, of belowground biodiversity in these systems is limited, particularly in the context of interactions between plants and soil components and consequences for biogeochemical functioning.
This PhD will investigate soil organic matter, microbial and faunal communities in coastal dune slacks to determine change over time and the impacts of disturbance and grazing. Using an established long-term experiment (https://www.ecologicalcontinuitytrust.org/ainsdale-dune-slacks) and wider network of study sites, this research will test links between organic matter quality, soil biodiversity and functional resilience in coastal systems, and provide unique belowground evidence to help optimise conservation management strategies.