Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/S005560/1
FUSED - Functionality of Urban Soils supporting Ecosystem service Delivery
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor AJ Dumbrell, University of Essex, Life Sciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr E Low-Decarie, University of Essex, Biological Sciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr C Whitby, University of Essex, Life Sciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Prof. I Colbeck, University of Essex, Life Sciences
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor T McGenity, University of Essex, Life Sciences
- Grant held at:
- University of Essex, Life Sciences
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Environmental Risks and Hazards
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Pollution and Waste
- Science Topics:
- Urban & Land Management
- Community Ecology
- Environmental Microbiology
- Pollution
- Soil science
- Abstract:
- Soil ecosystems provide critical ecosystem services that underpin human societies and wellbeing. Among others, these include: nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, waste detoxification, and supporting primary productivity. The delivery of these ecosystem services is dependent upon the biodiversity contained within the soil, and the ecosystem processes and functions it regulates. A positive relationship between biodiversity and ecosystem processes/function has been well documented in natural and agricultural soils, and importantly has been demonstrated to change following even very small or localised modifications to the soils environment. Thus modifications to soils that change the biodiversity present, will alter the delivery of ecosystem services on which humanity depends. However, a large amount of soil within the UK (and N. Europe) is contained within urban environments, and despite these comprising a huge variety of different soils types with a vast range of internal modifications, we know practically nothing about the biodiversity contained in these urban soils, the relationships between this and the ecosystem processes/functions it supports, and how this links to the delivery of key ecosystem services. Our project (FUSED) will address all these knowledge gaps, by examining the links between the physical and chemical structure of urban soil, the biodiversity it contains, the ecosystem processes and functions this supports and the delivery of four key ecosystem services (nutrient cycling, carbon sequestration, waste detoxification, and primary productivity). To achieve this we will focus on existing gradients of urbanisation in SE England. This region comprises areas of long-term industrial use, areas redeveloped upon an industrial legacy, green spaces, new urban developments, alongside urban conurbations ranging from small villages with low human population densities, to high-density cities, and with smaller areas of pristine habitat and large swaths of agricultural land - providing the full catalogue of urban soil types, from entirely natural, those modified for agriculture and urban green space, to Technosols formed from artificial material and soils with sealed (e.g. under paving/roads) surfaces. Importantly this region, as a historical and contemporary focus of urban development, provides a window into the future of what the wider UK landscape will look like and the novel urban ecosystems it will contain. First we will identify generalisations by examining how the environmental context (degree of urbanisation, combined with contemporary and historical land-use, alongside urban soil type present) the urban soil is present in influences biodiversity, ecosystem processes/functions and ecosystem service delivery. Building upon this, we will establish a series of experimental manipulations that allow examination of how resilient and resistance urban soil biodiversity and associated ecosystem processes/functions are to modification and changes in environmental context. This combined, with tracking urban soil ecosystem through time, will provide a unique understanding of the ecological stability of these systems. Finally, we will integrate all collected data into a modelling framework that will provide a mechanistic understanding of factors underpinning the responses of soil biodiversity, ecosystem processes/functions and delivery of ecosystem services to current and future modifications.
- Period of Award:
- 13 Feb 2019 - 31 Dec 2022
- Value:
- £1,055,502 Lead Split Award
Authorised funds only
- NERC Reference:
- NE/S005560/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Directed (Research Programmes)
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Highlights
This grant award has a total value of £1,055,502
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DI - Equipment | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £201,652 | £349,409 | £75,927 | £81,212 | £43,318 | £275,376 | £13,171 | £15,436 |
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