Mitigating the impacts of intensive agriculture on lowland organic soils

优化粮食和纤维生产与半自然生态系统和农业生态系统提供的其他服务之间的权衡关系，是一项关键的全球挑战。这一挑战在英国和全球的有机土壤中尤其严重，因为在以前的湿地土壤中，基于排水的生产固有的不可持续性。政府间气候变化专门委员会估计，泥炭地退化占所有人为温室气体（GHG）排放的3%，而耕作的有机土壤是英国土地利用部门最大的排放源。在最近的下议院土壤健康报告中，东盎格鲁沼泽等地区的碳损失和相关的地面沉降被确定为对英国土壤的主要威胁，对农业产量、排水能源成本上升和洪水风险造成长期影响。尽管如此，排水的低地有机土壤目前代表了英国最有价值和最具生产力的农业用地，对园艺部门尤其重要。虽然一些以前种植的有机土壤现在正在重新湿润和恢复，但英国农业和相关经济产出的长期维持需要在现有农田面积的很大一部分上继续种植有机土壤。因此，迫切需要开发成熟的方法来减缓这些地区的碳和温室气体排放损失率，并降低沉降率。该项目旨在测试减少农田和集约化草地种植下有机土壤温室气体排放的新方法。通过在一个新的大型NERC研究计划（ASSIST）中工作，包括CEH和洛桑研究所的研究，并利用与此和其他项目相关的一系列尖端仪器，学生将有机会从事世界领先的研究，并帮助开发创新的解决方案，从基于自然的农业技术方法，到重大的全球环境挑战。

Optimising the trade-off between food and fibre production, and the other services provided by semi-natural and agricultural ecosystems, represents a key global challenge. This challenge is particularly acute in organic soils, both in the UK and globally, due to inherent unsustainability of drainage-based production in former wetland soils. The IPCC estimate that peatland degradation accounts for 3% of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, whilst cultivated organic soils are the UK's largest source of emissions from the land-use sector. Carbon loss and associated land subsidence in areas such as the East Anglian Fens were identified as major threats to UK soils in the recent House of Commons report on Soil Health, with long-term consequences for agricultural yields, rising energy costs of drainage, and flood risk. Nevertheless, drained lowland organic soils currently represent some of the UK's most valuable and productive agricultural land, and are particularly important for the horticultural sector. Whilst re-wetting and restoration of some formerly cultivated organic soils is now taking place, the long-term maintenance of UK agricultural and associated economic output requires their continued cultivation over a large proportion of the existing farmland area. Consequently, there is a pressing need to develop proven methods to mitigate the rates of carbon and GHG emissions loss, and reduce subsidence rates, from these areas. This project aims to test novel methods to mitigate GHG emissions from organic soils under cropland and intensive grassland cultivation. By working within a new large NERC research programme (ASSIST) involving CEH and Rothamsted research, and making use of a range of cutting-edge instrumentation linked to this and other projects the student will have the opportunity to undertake world-leading research, and to help in the development innovative solutions, ranging from nature-based to agri-tech approaches, to a major global environmental challenge.