The risk of soil contaminants on above- and below-ground urban ecosystems

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This interdisciplinary project seeks to understand the risks posed by soil contamination byanthropogenic activities above- and below-ground in urban ecosystems. This is crucial as soils inurban ecosystems experience high levels of contamination from heavy industry, transport and humanmanagement (e.g. pesticides and herbicides at unregulated rates) and the impact of these on thestructure and function of urban soil ecosystems are unknown. Our supervisory team is uniquelyplaced to deliver this project with expertise in urban ecosystems, plant-soil-microbe interactions andthe impact of pesticides in the environment on wildlife.Currently, nothing is known about how heavy metal and chemical contaminants impact soil microbialand fungal community structure and function in urban ecosystems, and how this impacts on theassociated wildlife in above- and below-ground ecosystems. This project will provide key insights intothese processes producing a new framework for assessment of environmental risk of soilcontaminants.The student appointed to this project will develop a range of skills in soil, plant and microbialsciences, including analytical chemistry, metabolomics, isotope tracing and metagenomics. Inaddition, the student will undertake fieldwork and develop associated skills in citizen science,working with local authorities and the general public.