Research seminar: Politics, policy and projects - landscape greening in the Tsitsa catchment, South Africa

In a couple of weeks one of our Visiting Professors, Kate Rowntree from the Department of Geography, Rhodes University, will be presenting a research seminar on some of her recent work: Politics, policy and projects - landscape greening in the Tsitsa catchment, South Africa.

Date: Monday 8th June

Time: 1pm

Venue: Newton NW205

First year Environmental Science and Geography students take part in Citizen Science projects

As part of the module Fundamentals of Environmental Science the first year students took part in a number of citizen science projects.  The students took part in surveys of biodiversity, water quality, climate and air quality in areas around Avenue Campus.  

The air quality survey saw students identifying trees and the lichens found upon them.  In the water quality survey the pond in Avenue Nature Reserve was sampled and the life found in the water identified.  For the climate survey a quick look at the clouds in the sky and measuring the speed at which bubbles travelled over a known distance allowed the wind speed and direction to be estimated.  The biodiversity survey involved the study of a section of hedge and a count of the invertebrates found within the hedge.

Identifying the aquatic
invertebrates

Carrying out the pond survey

The data were collated to produce a large dataset.  The students then all had to write up one of these investigations as a scientific report, while considering the usefulness of citizen science.  

See what the second year Geography trip to SW USA is up to!

The second year geography field trip to SW USA departed early on Wednesday 13th May 2015. They will be maintaining a blog of their trip - you can find out what they are up to here.

Department team wins Green Impact bronze award

A team from the Department of Environmental and Geographical Sciences at the University of Northampton recently won a bronze award through the NUS Green Impact scheme. Green Impact is an environmental accreditation and awards scheme, that supports teams and departments to make simple, tangible and powerful changes in behaviour and policy through an online workbook of criteria.

Mitigating agricultural pollution - Mattie Biddulph (PhD Student)

Last week I embarked on my 25th and final fieldwork trip, 30 months after beginning my PhD. I have been saying that it will be my final outing for the last four, but it really was this time… probably.

 

My PhD is based around mitigation measures that can reduce agricultural pollution (sediment and contaminants). With 70% of the UK being agricultural land, this is a big issue to tackle. I have been working on two tributaries on the Hampshire Avon, on the borders of Dorset and Wiltshire. These upper reaches of the Hampshire Avon are part of a government-funded project, whereby three river catchments in England have been designated as ‘Demonstration Test Catchments’. Research is carried out in these catchments to find cheap, sustainable ways to reduce agricultural pollution of sediment and contaminants.

Such mitigation measures could be simply fencing along a riverbank or planting riparian vegetation. More specific, targeted measures can include: repairing degraded farm infrastructure, wetland creation, installation of settling systems, or changing farming practice. 

But are these measures actually working? Are they worth all the money and maintenance? I am collating the best methods that can test the effectiveness of these measures and monitor them over time. They need to be cheap, sustainable and replicable; in other words, they need to be easy to carry out and require minimal labour, so that these can be used on a larger scale for the long term. 

One method that I am using is to measure the amount of sediment stored on the riverbed, by carrying out “disturbance sampling”. To do this, a seal is created on the bed using a cylinder of known diameter and depth; any fine sediment in the top 5 cm of the bed is suspended by stirring it with a stick. The water is then collected and dried, and the weight of the remaining sediment will give you the amount of sediment stored on the bed per unit area. Looking at the changes to the riverbed over time, along with the properties of the sediment (geochemistry, particle size, organic matter etc.), will give an indication of the effectiveness of mitigation measures.

Disturbance sampling

One of my sites is on a dairy farm. When I started in December 2012, the main farm track was in extremely poor condition; huge amounts of sediment were being eroded, both from farm machinery, and the 270 strong herd of cattle that would trample along it to get to and from the fields each day. During and after rainfall, animal waste would also flow from the yard onto the track. This track then acted effectively as a terrestrial river, channelling runoff into the river, carrying with it huge amounts of sediment and contaminants. 

Farm track after a long period of rainfall, AKA, mud bath. 

Eight months into my research, the farm track was completely replaced, and a settling system was put in place to catch anything running off it. The settling system included a culvert, which was dug along the side of the track to collect runoff; this culvert was then connected to a pond, which in turn was connected to a ditch that eventually flows into the river. The aim of this was to allow as much sediment to settling on the bed of the pond and ditch as possible, before it reached the river. Almost two years of monitoring later, I will be able to analyse whether this mitigation option has had any positive effect on the quality of the river.

The farm track after resurfacing. The track has been cambered to 

direct  runoff into the vegetative culvert to the right of the track.

The ditch that runs between the settling pond and the river now
contains “v-notch weirs”, which are useful for trapping sediment

A clear difference in the colour of the water 

entering the river from the settling system.

To some of you this may seem very boring and of little consequence, which is fine, but to me it’s exciting, and I can’t wait to find out what’s been happening! This is just one of my sites, with a very specific mitigation measure, so feel free to ask me about the others if you want to know more (matilda.biddulph@northampton.ac.uk).

Science and Technology Fair Wednesday 29th April 2015

The Science and Technology Fair will take place in Newton Grand Hall between 10am and 3.30pm on Wednesday 29th April 2015.   Below are the names of the organisations attending:

Atomic Science, BINDT, Booker Ltd, British Army CGI, Dimension Data, E-Filing, Fujitsu, Jumar Solutions Limited, Kypera Ltd, Royal Air Force, Skills2Learn, Step, Travis Perkins, Unitemps, University STEM Programme, Worksmart Ltd.

A PhD student’s tale by Jennine Evans: Part 2 – The first two milestones

I began my postgrad journey in May 2014 working on sediment accumulation into the River Rother (South Downs, UK), where I was given the best start to a PhD that I could ask for by getting straight into the field! I’m now just past my first major milestone, the Advanced Post Graduate (APG) registration process. The APG process requires that you complete an induction to the University and put forward a project proposal to the Research Degrees Board (RDB) to prove you have a workable project to the standard expected for a PhD. After a lot of hard work it would seem the RDB are confident that my project is worthy of a PhD, and I have been awarded APG status, phew! 

I’m roughly eight months into my PhD and the project is now well established. I’ve got a steady rhythm going with my fieldwork and lab work over a two month routine. I go out to collect samples from my sites along the River Rother once every two months and then process and analyse those samples before my next trip. This doesn’t always work out perfectly as of course I have other work to be getting on with, however we are beginning to get some interesting results which I am keen to present at conferences. As my PhD is joint funded by the South Downs National Park Authority, I am required to attend their conferences and events to publically discuss my project, findings and join in discussions with locals about problems they are facing and possible solutions to the sedimentation of the river. I have so far attended the Arun and Rother Rivers Trust (ARRT) workshop on soil erosion in December 2014 and I will attend the conference ‘Embracing the Future’ in July 2015.  This conference is for students studying land use in the South Downs. 

ARRT workshop field visit
(Photo from ARRT Trust) 

I have all this work going on whilst also working towards the milestones that need to be passed to achieve a PhD at the University.   My next big milestone will be the transfer from APG student to PhD. For the transfer you are required to have two chapters written up, deliver a presentation and take part in a mock viva. Although this seems way off into the future, I am trying to get a comfortable amount of this work done to ease the inevitable stress closer to the deadline! So wish me luck, I’m going to need it!