BCAI Funded Projects for 2022

Quantifying the trait variability underpinning leaf gas exchange

Principle investigator: Dr Martin De Kauwe
Date: February 2022, Amount: £21,526
Project summary: Measurements of leaf-level gas exchange (via a LICOR 6800) form the basis of our understanding of a range of physiological fluxes (photosynthesis and stomatal conductance) and traits that underpin our capacity to answer scientific questions related to plant function and the response to environmental change. The purchase of a LICOR-6800 gas exchange instrument would fill a key gap in the School’s existing plant ecophysiology tool box. The instrument would allow us to acquire preliminary data collection to support three future research grants and make a transformative contribution to department teaching. Student training in the use of the LICOR offers a fantastic opportunity to support theoretical teaching, with practical applications that have a direct link to modelling.  

Environmental impacts of livestock parasite management in pasture

Principle investigator: Prof Richard Wall and Dr Chris Clements
Date: February 2022, Amount: £45,000
Project summary: Significant environmental contamination in pastures may result from the routine application of a range of systemic and topical anthelmintics and insecticides to livestock. After excretion these compounds have toxic impacts on the invertebrate communities that rely on dung, The loss of decomposer invertebrates may have impacts on the carbon and nitrogen cycles in pasture, soil fertility, GHG emissions from standing dung and the mammals and birds which rely on coprophagic invertebrates for food.  However, informed discussion about these potential environmental impacts at a landscape level is difficult because of a lack of data relating to the type and frequency of compounds used and the proportion of animals treated at any time.  This project aims to quantify the spatial and temporal pattern of livestock veterinary parasiticide use on cattle farms across the UK and model the patterns observed to predict landscape-level off-target impacts on dung-dwelling insects of high functional and trophic importance. 

A request for a three-month salary "top up" for the school's genome editing facility

Principle investigator: Keith Edwards
Date: February 2022, Amount: £13,457
Project summary: Gene editing is revolutionising crop sciences. In 2018 BCAI recognised this by supporting Dr Lucy Hyde to establish a gene editing facility within the Life Sciences Building. This facility has to date:

• Provided the Cereal Genomics Group with numerous (>25) transgenic wheat lines, saving the group over £100K in external transformation costs and speeding up its ability to generate transgenic plants
• Provided a core expertise to various members of Life Sciences in tissue culture techniques and the generation of gene edited plants
• Assisted researchers in the generation of preliminary data required to leverage further external funding, for instance the recently funded Follow-on Fund to Keith Edwards, which relies directly on Lucy’s continued input
• Provided a point of contact for existing and future collaborations with industry, academic and overseas development partners, for instance via Lucy Hyde’s BBSRC funded four-month secondment to Syngenta to learn double haploid production

Balancing food production and carbon storage in the UK

Principle investigator: Joshua Rees-Garbutt 
Date: February 2022, Amount: £28,885
Project summary: What impact will the UK government's climate mitigation and ecosystem restoration commitments have on future food security?
This project will be the first to assess both afforestation and crop production at a national-scale, using tree and crop model results to analyse UK land-use scenarios for trade-offs in food production and carbon storage. Existing model results, remotely sensed crop locations, and UK data on soil and climate projections, will be combined to create projected crop productivity maps. These will be analysed against projected afforestation maps to investigate optimal crop production; optimal afforestation; and dual-optimisation. The outcome will be the ability to assess where to grow crops and where to plant trees to try to uncover win-win scenarios for the UK. Without resolving these land-use conflicts, existing arable land in the UK and future food security could be threatened.

The foundations of a plant-soil interaction laboratory for ecological and agricultural sciences

Principle investigator: Hannah Griffiths
Date: February 2022, Amount: £37,066
Project summary: This funding bid is to purchase an elemental analyser to quantify carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) concentrations in plant material and soils, and ball-mill grinder for sample preparation. These are key pieces of equipment in establishing a plant-soil interaction laboratory in the School of Biological Sciences because:
1) C and N concentrations in soils are key indicators of soil health and primary productivity;
2) the N status of plant tissues contributes to processes such as crop herbivory and parasitism;
and 3) the amount of C found in our soils has a vital part to play in tackling the climate crisis. One of the most pressing challenges in agriculture is figuring how can we feed more people whilst increasing soil C stocks to protect soil and enhance fertility as well as mitigate climate warming. Therefore, the purchase of these pieces of equipment will enable researchers within the School of Biological Sciences to quantify key elements of the terrestrial biosphere that impact both our ability to grow crops and our progress in creating more climate-friendly farming practises: fundamental questions in applied agricultural and environmental sciences

Winter foraging in honeybees: comparing agricultural and urban landscapes

Principle investigator: Christoph Grueter
Date: February 2022, Amount: £7,632
Project summary: Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are important pollinators of agricultural crops, yet they also experience high annual mortality in many areas. One major factor implicated in poor bee health is agricultural intensification. Intensively farmed land has a reduced plant diversity and often offers little food to bees when crops are not in bloom. A potentially critical period for honeybee colony growth, reproductive success and health is late Winter (February-March): foraging conditions in the first few weeks of the year are likely to have important knock-on effects for colony health later in the year. We will use DNA metabarcoding to characterise the honeybee foraging landscape in late winter, focusing on the Southwest of England (Bristol and Somerset), to address two aims.
Aim 1: Using DNA metabarcoding, we plan to assess the floral resources used by honeybees in agricultural and urban landscapes during February and March. We predict that hives located in agricultural environments collect pollen from fewer (and different) plant species than hives in predominantly urban environments.
Aim 2: We will compare the foraging performance of colonies in agricultural and urban environments. We predict that the lower temperatures in agricultural areas reduce foraging time, which further lowers the quantity of pollen that is collected.

CONNECTED Bridging Grant – part 2 

Principle investigators: Nina Ockendon-Powell and Diane Hird
Date: February 2022, Amount: £44,185
Project summary: The Community Network for African Vector-Borne Plant Viruses, CONNECTED, uses research, training and networking to equip an international multidisciplinary network of researchers to lead the fight against insect-spread plant diseases that devastate crops in Sub-Saharan African countries, building capability and capacity in the region, and in so doing reducing poverty, malnutrition and food insecurity. CONNECTED’s vision is a Sub-Saharan Africa where existing and emerging vector-borne plant diseases are swiftly detected, combatted and defeated using sustainable solutions, to ensure food security and reduce hunger and poverty for all in the region. For further information please visit our website: https://www.connectedvirus.net/

Software upgrade for new Leica SP8 confocal in LSB

Principle investigator: Imogen Sparkes
Date: February 2022, Amount: £5,596
Project summary: Funds will be used for the purchase and installation of a software upgrade (LAS X MicroLab) for the new Leica SP8 confocal microscope housed in the School of Biological sciences. Software will enable users to study mechanisms which underpin plant growth, development and physiological responses to external stimuli.