Resilient dunes: determining the impacts of winter flooding variability on coastal dune wetland plant communities using remote sensing - PhD

Loughborough University

Loughborough, UK 🇬🇧

Project details

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 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.

References:
Asmuß et al. (2019). Remote Sensing, 11(14), 1659.

Clarke and Sanitwong Na Ayutthaya (2010). Journal of Coastal Conservation 14: 115-125.

Curreli et al. (2013) Science of the Total Environment, 443, pp.910-919.

Supervisors

Jonathan Millett

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

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. EU and Overseas applicants should achieve an IELTS score of 6.5 with at least 6.0 in each competency.

English language requirements

Applicants must meet the minimum English language requirements. Further details are available on the International website.

Fees and funding

Tuition fees for 2024-25 entry

UK fee

Fully funded Full-time degree per annum

International fee

Fully funded Full-time degree per annum

Tuition fees for 2025-26 entry

UK fee

Fully funded Full-time degree per annum

International fee

Fully funded Full-time degree per annum

Fees for the 2024-25 academic year apply to projects starting in October 2024, January 2025, April 2025 and July 2025.Fees for the 2025-26 academic year apply to projects starting in October 2025.

Find out more about research degree funding

Studentship type – UKRI through Flood-CDT (flood-cdt.ac.uk) The studentship is for 3.5 years and provides a tax-free stipend of £19,237 per annum plus tuition fees at the UK rate. Excellent International candidates are eligible for a full international fee waiver however due to UKRI funding rules, no more than 30% of the studentships funded by this grant can be awarded to International candidates.

How to apply

All applications should be made online. Under programme name, select Geography and Environment. Please quote the advertised reference number: FCDT-25-LU1 in your application. 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 found here. 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 1 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
  • academic transcripts and degree certificates (translated if not in English)
  • a IELTS/TOEFL certificate, if applicable.

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.


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