Julia Cannon (former Bray)
school-of-computing,-engineering-&-built-environment
Project Title : The impact of organic waste materials on the provision of soil ecosystem functions
The microbial communities within soil ecosystems are a vital global resource that provide essential ecosystem functions. These include the provision of fertile ground, water retention and filtration, atmospheric gas sequestration and maintaining biodiversity. My project aims to investigate the effects of the application of organic waste materials on the provision of these soil ecosystem functions. There is potential for the activity and population diversity of the soil microbial community to be affected by the presence of antimicrobial pharmaceutical material within organic waste. Therefore, a particular focus of this research is to investigate changes in the levels of antimicrobial resistance within the soil microbial community following the application of various organic waste sources.