Project details
Coastal dune slacks are depressions in dune systems at the level of the water table. They are a very biodiverse and extremely rare habitat which is under threat, and so are a nature conservation priority. Dune slacks are seasonally flooded, and the extent, depth and duration of this flooding is a key control over their ecology. Understanding the dynamics of this flooding is particularly important in the context of climate change, which is predicted to cause a gradual lowering of water tables resulting in drying or total loss of UK dune slacks (Curreli et al. 2013). Monitoring of dune slack water tables is labour intensive, and so data is highly limited in temporal and spatial extent. Ainsdale Dune Slacks and Newborough Warren National Nature Reserves are two of the most important coastal dunes in England and Wales, with a long history of monitoring both water table depth and vegetation change (54 years at Ainsdale: Clarke and Sanitwong Na Ayutthaya, 2010). Working with Natural England, this project will develop new methods using remote sensing data for advancing understanding of dune slack hydrology, which will be combined with historical monitoring data to evaluate the resilience of their rich biodiversity to climate change.
Methodology:
This project will tie new satellite-based methods with long-term historical data to i) create and test models of the extent and duration of dune slack flooding at Ainsdale and Newborough, using existing data, ii) map metrics of plant community composition across the two sites, and iii) investigate the resilience of plant communities to historic meteorological variation. The project will use historic plant community surveys, and water table depth monitoring to model dune slack hydrological status and plant community metrics (e.g. alpha and beta diversity) from remote sensing data such as that from Sentinel-1 (radar back-scatter, Asmuß et al. 2019) and Sentinel-2 earth observation satellites.
Yr 1: Initial literature search and model development linking EO and surface inundation, focused on locations within the reserves where we have existing monitoring data. UK conference attendance.
Yr 2: Scaling-up models to create reserve-scale high resolution time-series. Evaluation of temporal change across each reserve. UK conference presentation. Submission of journal article from Yr 1 analyses.
Yr 3: Comparison of hydrology and biodiversity time-series to determine the extent of plant community resilience to variation in hydrology. International conference presentation. Submission of journal article from Yr 2 analyses.
Yr 4: Writing up and thesis submission.
This project is part of the NERC funded Flood-CDT studentship competition.
Background Reading:
Asmuß, T., Bechtold, M., & Tiemeyer, B. 2019. On the potential of Sentinel-1 for high resolution monitoring of water table dynamics in grasslands on organic soils. Remote Sensing, 11(14), 1659.
Clarke, D., and Sanitwong Na Ayutthaya, S. 2010. Predicted effects of climate change, vegetation and tree cover on dune slack habitats at Ainsdale on the Sefton Coast, UK. Journal of Coastal Conservation 14: 115-125.
Curreli, A., Wallace, H., Freeman, C., Hollingham, M., Stratford, C., Johnson, H. and Jones, L., 2013. Eco-hydrological requirements of dune slack vegetation and the implications of climate change. Science of the Total Environment, 443, pp.910-919.
Entry requirements
Our entry requirements are listed using standard UK undergraduate degree classifications i.e. first-class honours, upper second-class honours and lower second-class honours. To learn the equivalent for your country, please choose it from the drop-down below.
Entry requirements for United Kingdom
FLOOD-CDT is multidisciplinary, and we welcome applicants from diverse disciplines, including but not limited to: physical scientists, engineers, mathematicians, life and social scientists. Students should have an interest in multidisciplinary research, as well as other skills relevant to one or more of the core Research and Training themes within the CDT. Applicants must already have, or expect to shortly graduate with, a very good undergraduate degree or Master’s degree (at least a UK 2:1 honours degree) – or an equivalent international qualification from a high ranking university – in a relevant subject. Academic attainment is only one of our criteria for selection; we equally value the ability to work in teams, excitement for research, enthusiasm for the research focus of the CDT and the ability to communicate ideas.
English language requirements
Applicants must meet the minimum English language requirements. Further details are available on the International website.
Fees and funding
2023-24 tuition fees are applicable to projects starting in January 2024, April 2024, and July 2024.2024-25 tuition fees are applicable to projects starting in October 2024, January 2025, April 2025 and July 2025.
How to apply
All applications should be made online. Under programme name, select Geography. Please quote the advertised reference number FCDT-24-LU7a in your application.
To avoid delays in processing your application, please ensure that you submit the minimum supporting documents:
Applications close on Friday 5th July (midnight), with interview dates to be confirmed.
The following selection criteria will be used by academic schools to help them make a decision on your application.
