Biodiversity Conservation PhD/Mphil

Biodiversity Conservation with specialisations in: Impact and management of invasive species Biodiversity Conservation Science Threatened species ecology Predator prey interactions Reintroduction biology Research project opportunities If you are a European or International student this research programme is one of those which allows you to develop a research project proposal as an initial and integral part of a Combined English / Study Skills and Research Course at the University before starting the PhD/MPhil degree. European and International candidates who have already reached the required level of English can apply for entry onto the project of their choice by presenting a relevant research proposal when applying for admission. Alternatively you may also consider developing your own research proposal based on the research specialisms within the school. The opportunities which are currently available are outlined below. • Antibiotic resistance in the environment • Biophysical benefits of shelter on livestock productivity • Biosecurity of different management techniques for bio-wastes • Carbon Cycling • Combining client-orientated and molecular breeding methods for biotic/abiotic stress resistance in crops • Completing the carbon balance of mangrove ecosystems • Control of carbon and nitrogen cycling in soil • Developing indicators of tropical forest sustainable management • Evaluating resource efficiency and environmental impacts of food and energy production systems • Forest ecosystem service provisioning in future drying climates • Forest restoration where multiple factors limit the rate of tree establishement • Impacts of land management on losses of diffuse pollutants • In-situ conservation of wild forest food for health and livelihoods • Is pathogen activity linked to infectivity? • Modelling farm management, exact topic depending on student's interest (e.g. production, climate change or biodiversity • Nutrient Cycling • Optimising the management of bio-wastes • Pb isotopes as geochemical tracers: evaluating the influence within-sample heterogeneity on their robustness as geochemical tracers • Phosphorus cycling in a mixed tree species stand • Prey preferences of large predators • Reducing the cost and adding value to animal by-products • Root & Mycorrhizal Ecology • Social and Economic issues in Conservation, Environment and Natural Resource Management • Soil Pollution • Step-change innovation for tracking landscape scale bee movements for pollination ecosystem services • The impact of climate change and predicted changes in river regime on the dynamics of metal fluxes within riverine environments • Threatened species conservation • Tree Species Community Ecology • Tropical forest resilience and silviculture • Using geometric morphometrics to discriminate three honeybee subspecies in the UK: An assessment of the beneficial and detrimental traits of hybridization • Using mapping populations to examine genetic and phenotypic variability in physiological, morphological and agronomic characteristics in spring barley