We would like to draw your attention to a PhD opportunity at Loughborough University, in conjunction with the British Geological Survey.

Tropical lake ecosystems in the Anthropocene: quantifying recent human impacts on biogeochemical cycling and biodiversity

Tropical freshwater lakes are critical natural systems of global importance, yet are scientifically under researched. Their catchments provide vital ecosystem services to some of Earth’s fastest growing and most vulnerable human populations, but the provision of fundamental ecological and life-supporting services is under threat due to the impact of human activities acting at the landscape-scale in the current Anthropocene. This PhD project combines limnology and palaeolimnology, using high-resolution lake monitoring, sediment trapping and sediment coring of a suite of contrasting crater lakes in western Uganda to characterise primary productivity and nutrient cycling (e.g. C and Si flux and burial) from seasonal to decadal scales. As well as records of biogeochemical dynamics, sediment archives will also be analysed for signals of ecological change, which will enable the PhD project to link changes in lake functioning as hotspots of both biogeochemistry and biodiversity in the last ~100-150 years.

For more detailed information about the project, to find out more about Loughborough University and the CENTA DTP as well as details regarding the application procedure, please use the following link:

http://www.lboro.ac.uk/services/graduateschool/prospective-phd-students/fees-and-funding/university-and-external/nerc-centa/2016-centa-project-ryves-uganda/

You are also welcome to contact Dave Ryves (d.b.ryves@lboro.ac.uk) and/or Keely Mills (kmil@bgs.ac.uk) to find out more.

We would be extremely grateful if you could forward this email to your students and colleagues who may be interested.