STARS Consortium

Soils Training And Research Studentships
Centre for Doctoral TrainingSTARS
#starsoil
NERC-BBSRC Centre for Doctoral Training

CEH
Lancaster University
CEH
Bangor University
CEH
British Geological Survey
Rothamsted Research
James Hutton Institute
University of Nottingham
Cranfield University
Eight partner organizations, 4 Universities and 4 Research
Institutes
CEH

Starts: October 2015
3 student cohorts intakes 2015, 2016, 2017
24 (8x3) NERC BBSRC Studentships, plus 9 (3x3) match funded
from the consortium
+ additional investment support provided by the consortium
Contact: stars@lancaster.ac.uk #starsoil
http://www.starsoil.org.uk/
Aim: To create of a novel and unique national training
experience for the next generation of soil scientists

Program 2
Soils & the
delivery of
ecosystem
services
Program 1
Understanding
the soil-root
interface
Program 3
Resilience &
response of soil
functions &
global changes
Program 4
Modelling the soil
ecosystem at
different spatial &
temporal scales
4 Programs

Some of the things that we hope to achieve…
1. STARS research training journey, stimulating, structured and
monitored
2. Cohort training in the College - both ‘physical’ and ‘online’
3. Use on-line fora to share experiences and host meetings
4. Exposure to key soil ‘platforms’ and multidisciplinary research &
collaboration
5. Programme of CASE studentships, Internships (PIPs) and
international placements
6. Shared data repository and a legacy of an open online training

Some example cohort building activities

The STARS Management Board
David Chadwick – Bangor University
Guy Kirk – Cranfield University
Emma Sayer – Lancaster University
Sacha Mooney – University of Nottingham
Andrew Tye – BGS
David Robinson – CEH
Helaina Black – James Hutton Institute
Steve McGrath – Rothamsted Research
Phil Haygarth (Lancaster University) – Academic Director and Chair of the Board
Davey Jones (Bangor University) – Director of Training
Olivia Lawrenson (Lancaster University) – Administrator

Local supervisors
propose projects
• Local HEI/RI
team select
the 4 best
projects
MB reduces 32 to
16 and advertise
• Selection
criteria:
strategic fit,
excellence,
collaboration
innovation, CASE
and PIP
Shortlist and
interview
• Up to 4
interviewed
• MB meeting
select 8 based
on applicant
quality
Admission Process…..

MB may balance
intake for
science/intake/mult
idisciplinarity
QAA Quality Code
STARS Directorate
Records & Reports
to RCUK
Local processes
used where possible
Academic quality
and training
progress reviews
will be achieved
using well
established ‘tried
and tested’ Local PG
processes at the
registering HEIs
Progression process…..

Training Quality
Supervisory skills
workshops
Annual review
Student Representative
Group and Strategy
Board
Establish success
indicators
Data Management
 Returns via Je-S Student
Details Portal (SDP)
 Biannual audits of Je-S
SDP information
Data and quality management

STARS PhD Projects – Cohort 1
Carbon cycling in plant soil systems
Measuring and modelling plant-driven soil carbon dynamics
In-soil trophic interactions between plants, rhizosphere bacteria
and nematodes: improving availability of soil phosphorus
Breaking new ground: novel plants for the remediation and
conditioning of soil structure
Rhizosphere bacteria promote sustainable crop growth
Does soil biodiversity matter? Connecting diversity, function and
the delivery of ecosystem services from soils
Dynamics of metal nanoparticles in soil environments
Accounting for soil change using ecosystems service approach
Effects of long-term climate change on microbially-mediated soil
processes
Mitigating soil erosion by manipulating root system architecture
Can reduced tillage mitigate against climate change?

Carbon Cycling in Plant Soil Systems
Understanding what controls the storage of carbon in soils and the cycling of plant nutrients is critical
to both maintenance of the natural environment and to feeding the world’s population sustainably.
Supervisors: Paul Hill & Davey Jones (Bangor), Sacha Mooney (Nottingham) and Tiina Roose (Southampton)
Candidate: Maria McMahon
Project aims:
To utilise recent technological advances to determine:
(1) The relative quantities and types of C, N and P delivered to the soil in
turnover of roots and mycorrhizas in temperate permanent grassland.
(2) The rate and route of utilisation by soil microbes of the various forms of
C delivered to the soil by these processes and how this controls the delivery
of C back to the atmosphere as CO2.
(3) How synchronous with mineralisation of plant C to CO2 is the return of N
and P to plant-available forms.
(4) How estimates of root and mycorrhizal turnover measured by state-of-
the-art techniques compare with those from more traditional approaches.

Measuring and modelling plant-driven soil carbon
dynamics
Applications re-opened – deadline: 28th September
All information found at www.starsoil.org.uk
Large amounts of carbon are held as organic matter in the
world’s soils. Existing models predict that the land surface
will switch from being a sink for atmospheric CO2 to being a
net source as soils give up their carbon with rising
temperature, resulting in a positive feedback loop.
Supervisors: Guy Kirk, Ron Corstanje (Cranfield) and Eric Paterson (JHI)
The processes governing this are poorly understood, and
poorly represented in models.
Project aims:
Use a novel field laboratory at Cranfield to study these processes including:
1) isotopic labelling of plants and microbial substrates to follow carbon fluxes between plant and
soil pools.
2) mathematical modelling to link the processes together.

1. Phytase enzymes act on phytate to generate plant
available orthophosphate.
In-soil trophic interactions between plants, rhizosphere bacteria and nematodes:
Improving availability of soil phosphorus
Malika Mezeli1 Supervisors: Timothy S. George1, Roy Neilson1, Martin Blackwell2, Courtney Giles1, Philip M. Haygarth3.
1. James Hutton Institute, Dundee. 2. Rothamsted Research. 3. Lancaster University.
Aims
 Establish the importance of in-soil
trophic interactions in soil P and
plant dynamics.
 Improve plant utilisation of
organic P.
 Support future design of
sustainable agricultural systems.
Approach and Methods
 Net uptake and change in soil P pool
through the growth cycle:
 31P NMR  HPLC  DGT
 The movement of P through
the soil/plant cycle:
 18O-PO4 Stable Isotope
 Isotope labelling
 Categorisation of soil macro and micro fauna
 Classic and molecular Nematology  PCR  RNA analysis
3.Current research aims to
utilize residual soil organic P by
understanding rhizospheric
mechanisms.
4.Currently
the
effectiveness
of these
processes is
limited.
6.In response to current developments this PhD will extend such work to arable systems and
contribute to more sustainable soil P management practices.
1.Global
agricultural
production relies
on rock phosphate.
Major environmental
polluter.
Only 15% of applied
P taken up by plants.
2. Recent work highlights the importance of
bactervious nematodes in effective plant utilisation
of hydrolysed phytate],resulting in increased plant
growth.
5.Recent work highlights the importance
of in-soil interactions such as
bacterivorous nematodes in increasing
plant utilization of soil organic P.
2.Current
phosphorus (P)
management
practices are
economically and
environmentally
unsustainable.

Breaking new ground: novel plants for the remediation
and conditioning of soil structure
Project aims:
(i) to identify novel non-crop plant species competent in growing in
structurally compromised soils;
(ii) establish the biophysical mechanisms and processes by which soil
structural dynamics are manifest via root-based traits and their
interactions with the soil biota;
(iii) explore the potential for such species to be used as a practical
means to improve and manage soil structure as novelbreak crops in
production systems.
Soil structural degradation is a globally pervasive problem in production agriculture and
horticulture, affecting crop productivity and environmental quality, and occurs sporadically in
natural ecosystems. A particular issue is that of compaction, often manifest as a general collapse
of soil structure in the topsoil layer and a ‘pan’ below this zone, both of which compromise the
efficient functioning of crop roots.
Supervisors: Karl Ritz and Sacha Mooney (Nottingham) Glyn Bengough (JHI) and Paul Brown (Frontier Agriculture)
(interviews pending)

Rhizosphere bacteria promote sustainable crop growth
Student: Heather Ruscoe
Supervisors: Penny Hirsch, Tim Mauchline, Rothamsted Research
Ian Dodd, Lancaster University
Background: This project aims to establish whether introducing P. fluorescens inoculants to crop plants
can provide robust, reproducible growth advantages and resilience to environmental stresses.
Hypotheses:
• Plants either differentially select rhizosphere microorganisms with beneficial traits, or the process is stochastic and
depends on the numbers and diversity of bacteria in the bulk soil
• Introducing beneficial individual isolates or assemblages can enhance plant growth and allow more efficient use of
fertilizers
• Crop water status affects microbial populations and their interactions with plants
Approach: Screen isolates from wheat roots, for genes encoding well-known beneficial traits including nitrogen
fixation, phosphate solubilisation, ACC deaminase and production of anti-fungal metabolites (e.g. phloroglucinol and HCN
production) for which sequence data are available, using standard bioinformatics tools.

Does soil biodiversity matter? Connecting diversity,
function and the delivery of ecosystem services from soils
Project aims:
To capitalize on a unique soil biodiversity dataset to answer key
questions about:
(1) how below-ground diversity relates to land use and key
components of the ecosystem
(2) how below-ground diversity responds to agricultural land
management
(3) how below-ground diversity relates to soil function and ecosystem
service provision. This knowledge will help our fundamental
understanding of how soil ecosystems work as well as providing the
underpinning information required by regulators and policymakers to
make informed decisions about managing and protecting soils for
future generations
Soil represents one of the most diverse habitats on earth yet our understanding of how this regulates soil function
and the subsequent delivery of ecosystem services remains extremely poor. Recent advances in methods for
characterising soil microbial communities, however, has provided us with an unprecedented opportunity to
understand the factors driving below-ground diversity and the links to ecosystem functioning.
Supervisors: Davey Jones, Simon Creer (Bangor), David Robinson (CEH) and James Skates (Welsh Gov.t)
Candidate: Paul George

Dynamics of metal nanoparticles in soil environments
The use of metal-based nanoparticles (NPs) in consumer and industrial products has increased
rapidly. Wastewater treatment is a major pathway for nanoparticle release to soils. Transformations
during the sewage treatment process are likely, so that the NP’s in the sludge are often ‘aged’ and in
the form of ZnS, AgS and Zn phosphates.
Project aims:
There is currently limited knowledge regarding the
long term fate of ‘aged’ NPs in UK soils. This PhD
seeks to address the key gaps in our understanding
of their behaviour by quantifying changes in their
speciation, mobility, bioaccumulation and toxicity
across a range of soil types and time periods.
Supervisors: Andrew Tye (BGS), Steve Lofts, Claus Svedsen (CEH) and Scott Young (Nottingham)
Candidate: Beckie Draper

SUPERVISORS
David Robinson: NERC - Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bangor
Davey Jones: Bangor University
Iain Fraser: University of Kent
Candidate: Fiona Seaton
AIMS
• Determine how best to combine and analyze national soil
data with soil and land use change data to create ecosystem
accounts.
• Use national data to explore linkage between above and
belowground soil function and ecosystem service delivery.
• Propose new ways to assess soil change that will advance the
work of the UN’s experimental ecosystem accounts.
Robinson, D.A. 2015. Science 347, 6218: 140
Accounting for soil change using ecosystems service approach

• Preliminary work shows that two decades of summer drought and winter warming treatments
have altered soil microbial communities in ancient species-rich grassland.
• This studentship investigates the functional consequences of those changes.
Buxton Climate Impacts Study
• Established in 1993
• climate treatments and main
interactions in 5 replicate
blocks
Summer drought Winter warming
Project aims:
• To determine whether specific microbial functional groups are disproportionately affected by the
Buxton climate treatments.
• To quantify changes in microbial processes (decomposition and nutrient cycling) in response to
climate treatments.
• To link shifts in microbial functional groups to changes in soil processes.
Supervisors: Emma Sayer & Carly Stevens (Lancaster) and Anna Oliver & Rob Griffiths (CEH)
Candidate: James Edgerly
Effects of long-term climate change on microbially-
mediated soil processes

Mitigating soil erosion by manipulating root system
architecture
Plant roots are a crucial yet under-researched
factor for reducing water erosion rates through
their ability to alter soil properties such as
aggregate stability, hydraulic function and shear
strength.
Project aims:
To evaluate the effects of genotypic variation in
root architecture (specifically vertical gradients in
lateral root proliferation) on soil erosion rates.
Supervisors: John Quinton, Ian Dodd (Lancaster) and Sacha Mooney (Nottingham)
Candidate: Emma Burak

Can reduced tillage mitigate against climate change?
Project aims:
1. Develop an optimized design to sample conventional and RT farms and facilitate local and regional
estimates of treatment effects.
2. Assess seasonal variation in in-situ GHG release (chambers) and soil structure at sampled sites.
3. Quantify soil biophysical properties (e.g. aggregate stability, pore connectivity by X-ray CT) at
sampled sites and to use these and in-situ observations to explain observed effects on GHG release.
Reduced (including zero) tillage (RT) is increasingly popular
globally and in the UK, where it is practised on ca. 45% of
arable land. There is growing evidence RT reduces runoff,
enhances water retention and may promote carbon
sequestration. However, the effects of RT on greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions from soil are uncertain.
Supervisors: Sacha Mooney, Sofie Sjogersten (Nottingham), Murray Lark and Barry Rawlings (BGS)
Candidate: Hannah Cooper

STARS - SSP collaboration opportunities……
• Aim to be community facing and welcome to offers of
collaboration and working together
• Additional ‘third supervisor’ collaboration welcomed –
with training benefit for the student
• CASE and internship opportunities
• Wider participation in some physical training, on an ad
hoc basis - space and logistics permitting
• An open source vision for the online training once
established - training videos, online virtual training

2016 Project Call – Cohort 2
• 8 NERC/BBSRC studentships available, plus 3 matched funded
studentships.
• Deadline for project proposal submission is: 4 pm on 30th September.
• Application guidelines and forms can be downloaded from the STARS
homepage: www.starsoil.org.uk.
• Enquires to: stars@lancaster.ac.uk.

STARS Consortium

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