Project highlights

  • Contribute to a greater understanding of the impacts of agricultural practice on biodiversity
  • Increase our understanding of the links between agriculture, biodiversity and ecosystem services
  • Develop cutting-edge data science, spatial analysis and remote sensing skills.

Overview

Agricultural intensification and expansion are major drivers of the current global biodiversity crisis. It is therefore essential that we understand the nuances of the relationship between agricultural land-use, biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides in order to mediate the effects of increasing global demand for food. While there is much work on enhancing ecosystem services on farmland, less is known about how to support a broad range of biodiversity. Indeed, while we have some understanding of the impacts of agriculture on some species and functional groups, we do not have the broad taxonomic understanding that is required if we are to avoid the unintended consequences of managing landscapes for a single or narrow range of outcomes. Even less is known about how biodiversity directly contributes to farmland production, meaning it can be devalued by farmers.

Biodiversity can be measured in a wealth of ways. An increasingly supported measure of biodiversity is that of functional diversity: the range of ways by which organisms influence ecosystem functioning. Understanding how changes in biodiversity driven by agriculture affect functional diversity is crucial for many reasons. Firstly, understanding the effects of environmental change on functional diversity provides greater generality and predictability than focussing on species’ identities alone. Secondly, the most affected species may be providing similar or unique ecological functions, leading to a loss of that function. Finally, functional traits provide the link between biodiversity and ecosystem resilience and function, and therefore ecosystem services.

The aim of this project is to gain an understanding of the relationship between agricultural land-use – in the context of the wider landscape – and functional diversity, covering a wide range of functions and taxonomic groups via the following questions: 1) which functional groups are most impacted by agricultural land-use?; 2) are communities in agriculturally intensive landscapes more functionally homogenised (and less resilient) compared to other land-uses?; and 3) how can we design agricultural landscapes to avoid loss of functional diversity and ecosystem services? The project will lead to new insights and syntheses concerning how multiple species are impacted by agriculture and how these impacts alter ecosystem functioning.

Images show - ladybirds and aphids; jay's eating acorns; beavers; bees pollinating a flower. Next image a figure describing what these creatures eat. Next image showing difference between agricultural scenarios and the coarseness of the grain. Next image Global Case Study is a map of the earth and how the PREDEICTS data is distributed across the globe. Next image UK Case Study – a selection of wildlife photos of the UK Countryside.
Figure 1. Functional diversity & ecosystem services – Biodiversity is linked to multiple ecosystem services: ladybirds provide pest control over aphids; jay’s disperse acorns and regenerate oak woodlands; beavers provide multiple services through engineering; many of our invertebrates pollinate to provide the food we eat. Dynamic landscape measurement – To understand how landscape structure influences biodiversity, we need to measure it in a meaningful way. We will develop dynamic and mechanistic measures of landscapes. Global case study – Distribution of the PREDICTS data, a potential source for this research. UK case study – A variety of National Trust owned landscapes (pictures from www.nationaltrust.org.uk/). Agricultural scenarios – The land-sharing, land-sparing continuum, one scientific framework under which agricultural scenarios could be developed.

CENTA Flagship

This is a CENTA Flagship Project

Case funding

This project is suitable for CASE funding

Host

University of Birmingham

Theme

  • Organisms and Ecosystems

Supervisors

Project investigator

Dr. Laura Graham, University of Birmingham ([email protected])

Co-investigators

How to apply

Methodology

The research will consist of four parts: (1) development of functional diversity metrics which provide a link between functional diversity and ecosystem functions; (2) measuring agricultural landscape structure and intensity in meaningful ways; (3) application of these metrics to a national or multi-national case study to understand the links between agricultural landscape structure and functional diversity; (4) development of agricultural land-use scenarios which reflect both policy decisions, and forward looking ‘future nature’ approaches.

You will have the opportunity to combine UK-based fieldwork on National Trust sites, with a (macroecological) study – using the PREDICTS database – into global effects of agriculture on functional diversity.

Training and skills

Students will be awarded CENTA2 Training Credits (CTCs) for participation in CENTA2-provided and ‘free choice’ external training. One CTC equates to 1⁄2 day session and students must accrue 100 CTCs across the three years of their PhD.

You will receive training in cutting edge ecological modelling and remote sensing techniques. You will also benefit from the range of applied and theoretical ecology expertise of the supervisory team. The fieldwork component of the project will allow you to develop specific ecological survey techniques. Additionally, you will be part of the growing Ecology & Biogeography group at the University of Birmingham, which has a number of researchers across all career stages in the general field of ecology. Through external collaborations you will have the opportunity to build your network.

Partners and collaboration

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is the CASE partner for this project.

The PhD project has three external partners. Prof. James Bullock at UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Prof. Matthew Heard at the National Trust, and Dr. Martin Jung at International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). All  have a wealth of expertise in functional and landscape ecology, with links to defining forward-looking policy-relevant research questions. The link with UK CEH will provide you with access to data from the Biological Records Office, and the ASSIST and AgLand projects. The link with National Trust will provide you with access to their sites across the UK. The link with IIASA will likely be in the form of a summer studentship with the Young Scientists Summer programme. Dr Jung has worked extensively with the PREDICTS data and can provide insight into this.

Further details

If you wish to apply to the project, applications should include:

  • A CV with the names of at least two referees (preferably three and who can comment on your academic abilities)
  • Submit your application and complete the host institution application process via: https://sits.bham.ac.uk/lpages/LES068.htm. and go to Apply Now in the PhD Geography and Environmental Science (CENTA) section. Please quote CENTA23_B31 when completing the application form.

Applications to be received by the end of the day on Wednesday 11th January 2023. 

Additional information for international applicants

  • All international applicants must ensure they can fulfil the University of Birmingham’s international student entry requirements, which includes English language requirements.  For further information please visit https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/postgraduate/pgt/requirements-pgt/international/index.aspx.
  • Please be aware that CENTA funding will only cover University fees at the level of support for Home-fee eligible students.  The University is only able to waive the difference on the international fee level for a maximum of two successful international applicants.

Possible timeline

Year 1

Familiarisation with concepts of functional ecology, spatial data analysis and agricultural scenarios. Development of functional diversity metrics and landscape structure metrics. Visit to field sites.

Year 2

Field data collection / big data analysis to gain understanding of the link between functional diversity and agricultural landscape structure and intensity.

Year 3

Development of agricultural scenarios and application of these to the field data and/or macroecological data.

Further reading

  • Coops, N.C., Wulder, M.A., 2019. Breaking the Habit(at). Trends in Ecology & Evolution 0. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tree.2019.04.013
  • Finch, T., Gillings, S., Green, R.E., Massimino, D., Peach, W.J., Balmford, A., 2019. Bird conservation and the land sharing-sparing continuum in farmland-dominated landscapes of lowland England. Conservation Biology 33, 1045–1055. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13316
  • Finch, T., Green, R.E., Massimino, D., Peach, W.J., Balmford, A., 2020. Optimising nature conservation outcomes for a given region-wide level of food production. Journal of Applied Ecology 57, 985–994. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.13594
  • Graham, L.J., Spake, R., Gillings, S., Watts, K., Eigenbrod, F., 2019. Incorporating fine-scale environmental heterogeneity into broad-extent models. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 10, 767–778. https://doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.13177
  • National Trust (2020) National Trust Land Map. Available at: https://nationaltrust.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=a7a56518c10845daab1950239e041447 (Accessed 8th October 2020)
  • Oliver, T.H., Isaac, N.J.B., August, T.A., Woodcock, B.A., Roy, D.B., Bullock, J.M., 2015. Declining resilience of ecosystem functions under biodiversity loss. Nature Communications 6, 10122. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms10122
  • Redhead, J.W., Powney, G.D., Woodcock, B.A., Pywell, R.F., 2020. Effects of future agricultural change scenarios on beneficial insects. Journal of Environmental Management 265, 110550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.110550
  • Spake, R., Bellamy, C., Graham, L.J., Watts, K., Wilson, T., Norton, L.R., Wood, C.M., Schmucki, R., Bullock, J.M., Eigenbrod, F., 2019. An analytical framework for spatially targeted management of natural capital. Nature Sustainability 2, 90–97. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-019-0223-4
  • Woodcock, B.A., Garratt, M.P.D., Powney, G.D., Shaw, R.F., Osborne, J.L., Soroka, J., Lindström, S. a. M., Stanley, D., Ouvrard, P., Edwards, M.E., Jauker, F., McCracken, M.E., Zou, Y., Potts, S.G., Rundlöf, M., Noriega, J.A., Greenop, A., Smith, H.G., Bommarco, R., van der Werf, W., Stout, J.C., Steffan-Dewenter, I., Morandin, L., Bullock, J.M., Pywell, R.F., 2019. Meta-analysis reveals that pollinator functional diversity and abundance enhance crop pollination and yield. Nature Communications 10, 1481. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-019-09393-6
  • Woodcock, B.A., Harrower, C., Redhead, J., Edwards, M., Vanbergen, A.J., Heard, M.S., Roy, D.B., Pywell, R.F., 2014. National patterns of functional diversity and redundancy in predatory ground beetles and bees associated with key UK arable crops. Journal of Applied Ecology 51, 142–151. https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12171

COVID-19

Although there is the option for a fieldwork component to the project, given this fieldwork is UK-based, it fits within current restrictions due to COVID, and all relevant Health & Safety measures will be taken. Should restrictions tighten, the research can focus on the global macroecological analysis instead.