Can novel crop rotations enhance multiple ecosystems services underpinning
arable production?
e.degani@pgr.reading.ac.uk
Profile: http://www.reading.ac.uk/caer/student_erika_degani.html
Supervisors:
- Prof Simon G Potts – Centre for Agri-Environmental Research
- Dr Hannah Jones – School of Agriculture, Policy and Development
- Dr Simon Mortimer – Centre for Agri-Environmental Research
- Peter Sutton – Syngenta
Funding:
- BBSRC Syngenta CASE studentship
- EU LIBERATION project
Start date:
- October 2013
Abstract:
My research is part of the broader EU LIBERATION Project (Linking farmland biodiversity to ecosystem services for effective ecological intensification). LIBERATION aims to quantify the potential of ecological intensification to sustainably enhance food security through a standardized approach, which examines the relationships between biodiversity and ecosystem service delivery across Europe. More specifically, my research focuses on assessing the potential of novel crop rotations to enhance multiple ecosystem services underpinning arable production. I am particularly interested in quantifying the relationships between crop diversity and pollination as well as below ground organisms in the context of soil fertility.