Location
Loughborough University

Supervisors: Jonathan Millett (LU), Laurence Jones (UKCEH), Jennifer Williamson (UKCEH, Jeffrey Evans (LU), Graham Weaver (Natural England)

Contact email: j.millett@lboro.ac.uk

Project rationale

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

  1. create and test models of the extent and duration of dune slack flooding at Ainsdale and Newborough, using existing data,
  2. map metrics of plant community composition across the two sites, and
  3. 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.

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., 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., Jones, L. (2013) Eco-hydrological requirements of dune slack vegetation and the implications of climate change. Science of the Total Environment, 443, 910–919.

FLOOD-CDT

This PhD is being advertised as part of the Centre for Doctoral Training for Resilient Flood Futures (FLOOD-CDT). Further details about FLOOD-CDT can be seen here https://flood-cdt.ac.uk. Please note, that your application will be assessed upon:

  1. Motivation and Career Aspirations;
  2. Potential & Intellectual Excellence;
  3. Suitability for specific project and
  4. Fit to FLOOD-CDT.

So please familiarise yourselves with FLOOD-CDT before applying. During the application process candidates will need to upload:

  • a one-page statement of your research interests in flooding and FLOOD-CDT and your rationale for your choice of project;
  • a curriculum vitae giving details of your academic record and stating your research interests;
  • name two current academic referees together with an institutional email addresses; on submission of your online application your referees will be automatically emailed requesting they send a reference to us directly by email;
  • academic transcripts and degree certificates (translated if not in English) – if you have completed both a BSc and an MSc, we require both; and
  • a IELTS/TOEFL certificate, if applicable.

Please upload all documents in PDF format. You are encouraged to contact potential supervisors by email to discuss project-specific aspects of the proposed prior to submitting your application. If you have any general questions please contact floodcdt@soton.ac.uk.

Apply

To apply for this project, please apply through the Loughborough University application portal (available on this link: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research-degrees/phd-opportu…) and quote reference number FCDT-25-LU1