Funded PhD Studentship
Annual DVC Award- Pond creation and management: addressing fundamental knowledge gaps to inform science and practice.
Project Title
Pond creation and management: addressing fundamental knowledge gaps to inform science and practice.
Primary Supervisor
Dr Matthew Hill
Co‑Supervisors
Dr Heather Campbell, Professor Carl Sayer (UCL), Dr Simon Segar
Expected Start Date and Location
October 2026 onwards, based at Harper Adams University, Edgmond, Shropshire, UK.
Funding
The studentship covers the current Home Student (UK, Isle of Man & Channel Isles) tuition fees plus a yearly stipend. For 2026/7 this equates to £21,805 per year, with potential increases each academic year. International applicants must fund the difference between home and overseas fees with a proportion paid in full before visa documentation can be issued.
Applicants
PhD applicants must hold a minimum of an upper second class (2:1) honours degree, or equivalent in a relevant discipline, or a 2:2 alongside a relevant Master’s degree with Merit, or demonstrate alternative qualifications/experience judged acceptable by the university.
Project Overview
Pond ecosystems are biodiversity hotspots and have been widely demonstrated to support greater aquatic biodiversity than rivers, streams and lakes at a landscape scale. Their importance to biodiversity becomes particularly important in agricultural regions, where ponds provide important ‘habitat islands’ for an array of aquatic and terrestrial taxa. However, agricultural intensification has accelerated the loss of pond habitats, with those that remain in agricultural landscapes often becoming terrestrialised due to neglect, leading to significant declines in pond biodiversity across UK agricultural landscapes. Recent research has highlighted the need to create new ponds or restore existing ponds to reverse decades of pond infilling and neglect. The UK has been at the forefront of research that has driven a significant advancement of our understanding of best practice for pond creation and restoration, with recent studies demonstrating that both methods can be highly effective in supporting aquatic macroinvertebrates and plants. Despite increasing literature and interest in pond creation and restoration (hereby collectively referred to as pond management), there remains a lack of fundamental understanding of many aspects of pond management, including the wider pond network within agricultural landscapes, potential spill‑over effects from pond restoration and the importance of late succession shaded ponds.
Objectives
1. At a landscape scale, quantify the aquatic biodiversity spill‑over effects from pond management.
2. Quantify the aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity within heavily shaded unmanaged ponds.
3. Determine the impact of pond management on terrestrial invertebrate (e.g., ground beetle) diversity at local and landscape scales.
4. Establish comprehensive pond management guidance to maximise biodiversity at a landscape scale.
Methods
Secondary macrophyte and macroinvertebrate data of agricultural ponds where pond management has been undertaken across the UK will be collated to examine the wider landscape‑scale contribution of pond management. Primary data from a UK agricultural landscape (e.g., Shropshire/Norfolk) will be collected to examine the relationship between local environmental factors, connectivity, pond management and biodiversity. Intensive surveying of shaded ponds will be undertaken to quantify the invertebrate communities present. Ground beetle and spider diversity will be collected before and after pond management at 10 pond sites. Anticipated results will facilitate the establishment of comprehensive pond management guidance at a local and landscape scale, helping maximise aquatic and terrestrial biodiversity across agricultural landscapes.
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