PhD student - Natasha Underwood
Sponsor - Wessex Water
Supervisor - Professor Sean Comber
The scope of this PhD is looking at the biochemistry of the site, particularly phosphate levels in water and in soil. Wessex Water are funding the restoration of the wetland at Moorlinch. The hope is to improve the biodiversity for the site and the wildlife around it, if phosphate levels can be reduced and the carbon story of the site. I have been monitoring the water quality, soil quality, vegetation cover and freshwater invertebrate communities. We have been producing ideas of how we can try to reduce that contaminant on the site. We are looking at different types of native plants you can grow in a wetland landscape; so that we can measure the phosphate, nitrate and carbon levels they store within them.