Crop Systems Seminar: Phosphorus – a critical element in wetland conservation and restoration Event
- Time:
- 13:00 - 14:00
- Date:
- 22 July 2016
- Venue:
- University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, Building 85, Room 2209.
For more information regarding this event, please email Dr Keith Daly at krd103@soton.ac.uk .
Event details
Dr Steve Robinson's teaching and research address the role and behaviour of soils in both the man-made and natural environments, seeking to ask and answer questions that are pertinent to national and international laws on agricultural land use and environmental quality.
Abstract : The restoration of wetlands often involves the maintenance of a fluctuating water regime by controlling the water levels in localised field drainage ditches. However, evidence suggests that alternate flood / drainage cycles can accelerate phosphorus (P) cycling and transport within the wetland soil, resulting in accumulation of P in the bottom sediment of the ditches; this poses a serious threat to the ecology both of the ditch water and downstream water courses. The presentation will explain how P is cycled through the major wetland compartments: soil, water and vegetation, and then describe a case study that quantifies the accumulation and release of P in the drainage ditch network of a recently restored wetland.
Image credit: Justin la Berge, under Creative Commons licence 2.0
Speaker information
Dr Steve Robinson ,University of Reading,Current research: The role of agriculture in the degradation of water quality; Reducing the transfer of nutrients from agricultural land to surface waters; The effect of organic amendments on soil nutrient dynamics and water quality; Biogeochemical processes in soil that regulate phosphorus dynamics in periodically flooded soils; The use of remote sensing and Earth observation to identify and model critical source areas and pathways of pollution in agricultural catchments; and Nutrient cycling in organic farming systems.