Project Description

Primary Supervisor - Professor Neil Hall

Scientific Background

Unimproved, sensitively grazed lowland grasslands are an ecologically vital but highly threatened habitat. These grasslands support diverse fungal communities, from the iconic and vulnerable waxcaps to a vast, poorly understood diversity of soil microfungi that underpin plant health, nutrient cycling, and carbon storage. A key determinant of fungal community recovery is time since last disturbance (e.g. ploughing), because fungi rely on slow-growing, undisturbed hyphal networks. Understanding how long recovery takes, and what drives it, is essential for informing grassland restoration and sustainable land management policy.

Research Methodology

This project will use three UK grassland sites – Rothamsted Research’s Long-Term Experiment sites in Hertfordshire and Devon, and the Holkham Estate in Norfolk – which together span a range of soil types, climates, and decades to over a century of documented management history. The student will sample soils along a gradient of time-since-disturbance at each site and use metabarcoding sequencing to characterise fungal diversity and community composition. Collecting soil chemistry data alongside will help disentangle the effects of disturbance history from other environmental drivers. In parallel, sequencing of bacteria from the same samples will allow the comparison of relative impacts of disturbance on fungi versus bacteria. Finally, informed by their emerging results the student will identify a focal shared grass species present across all sites to sample at finer resolution (roots, rhizosphere, bulk soil) to determine whether recruitment of fungal partners is consistent across sites.

Training

The integration of field, laboratory and bioinformatics training delivered by this project offers an exciting opportunity to develop a diverse transferable skillset of high value in both academia and industry. The Earlham Institute is at the forefront of sequencing and bioinformatics, giving the student access to cutting-edge training opportunities in coding and data science. The student will benefit from access to established long-term experiment sites and datasets courtesy of collaboration with Rothamsted Research, training in fungal ecology, taxonomy and biogeochemistry, and opportunities to present their work at conferences.

Person Specification

We seek an individual with a degree in ecology, microbiology, environmental science, or a related field. Enthusiasm for field, lab and computational work are essential.

Entry Requirements

At least UK equivalence Bachelors (Honours) 2:1. English Language requirement (Faculty of Science equivalent: IELTS 6.5 overall, 6 in each category).

Funding

ARIES studentships are subject to UKRI terms and conditions. Successful candidates who meet UKRI’s eligibility criteria will be awarded a fully-funded studentship, which covers fees, maintenance stipend (£21,805 p.a. for 2026/27) and a research training and support grant (RTSG). A limited number of studentships are available for international applicants, with the difference between 'home' and 'international' fees being waived by the registering university. Please note, however, that ARIES funding does not cover additional costs associated with relocation to, and living in, the UK, such as visa costs or the health surcharge.

ARIES is committed to equality, diversity, widening participation and inclusion in all areas of its operation. We encourage applications from all sections of the community regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation and transgender status. Projects have been developed with consideration of a safe, inclusive and appropriate research and fieldwork environment. Academic qualifications are considered alongside non-academic experience, with equal weighting given to experience and potential.

After submitting their application for the relevant ARIES project(s), applicants are expected to complete the ARIES Equality and Diversity Form Applicants - 2027 Entry – Fill in form. One form is required per application, so applicants applying to more than one project must complete a separate form for each.

Please visit www.aries-dtp.ac.uk for further information.

References

McMullan, M., Percival-Alwyn, L., Kaithakottil, G.G., Gardiner, L.-J., Hill, R., Yvanne, H., Grey, M., Sawford, K., Ward, S.J., Low, R., Warring, S.D., Heavens, D., Peel, N., Kroboth, J., Stevens, M., Swarbreck, D., Clark, M.D., Hall, N., 2025. Developing a crop- wild-reservoir pathogen system to understand pathogen evolution and emergence. eLife 14, e91245. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.91245

Hill, R., Llewellyn, T., Downes, E., Oddy, J., MacIntosh, C., Kallow, S., Panis, B., Dickie, J.B., Gaya, E., 2021. Seed Banks as Incidental Fungi Banks: Fungal Endophyte Diversity in Stored Seeds of Banana Wild Relatives. Frontiers in Microbiology 12, 643731. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2021.643731

Hill, R., 2026. Host range and global distribution of Gaeumannomyces root fungi of cereal crops and wild grasses. Fungal Ecology 82, 101519. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.funeco.2026.101519

Hill, R., Grey, M., Fedi, M.O., Smith, D., Canning, G., Ward, S.J., Irish, N., Smith, J., McMillan, V.E., Hammond, J., Osborne, S.-J., Reynolds, G., Smith, E., Chancellor, T., Swarbreck, D., Hall, N., Palma-Guerrero, J., Hammond-Kosack, K.E., McMullan, M., 2025. Evolutionary genomics reveals variation in structure and genetic content implicated in virulence and lifestyle in the genus Gaeumannomyces. BMC Genomics 26, 239. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12864-025-11432-0

Messer, L.F., Brown, M.V., Van Ruth, P.D., Doubell, M., Seymour, J.R., 2021. Temperate southern Australian coastal waters are characterised by surprisingly high rates of nitrogen fixation and diversity of diazotrophs. PeerJ 9, e10809. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.10809

How long does it take grassland fungi to recover after disturbance? (HALL_EI_ARIES27)

Welcome to Norwich

Project Description

Entry Requirements

Funding

References