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Nature's miracle recovery: Bringing ancient Ice Age ponds back to life
Project Description
In East Anglia, UK, a nature recovery miracle is underway. 10,000 years ago vast numbers of ‘pingo’ ponds were formed under periglacial conditions in the Brecks-Fens area. In the medieval this would have formed one of Europe’s richest pondscapes. However, over recent centuries, huge numbers of pingos have been infilled leaving landscapes of “ghost pingos” that show up as cropmarks and wet patches in fields. Currently extant pingos are restricted to a few nature reserves, which nevertheless support many rarities, including the re-introduced Pool Frog. Recently UCL has been resurrecting pingo pond landscapes and research has shown seeds of many wetland plants to remain alive underneath the ploughsoil allowing them to recover rapidly. Preliminary studies show spectacularly rich plant, invertebrate and amphibian communities to have re-assembled in just 1-2 years, including mega-rarities. The project will undertake sampling of restored ghost pingos of different ages to examine the speed (spanning weeks-months-years) and nature of recovery and mechanisms that underlie it, covering multiple biological groups. Sampling will include traditional visual and pond net surveys, eDNA and camera trapping. To assess restoration completeness, a palaeoecological dimension will compare contemporary and lost (ancient DNA and fossil assemblages) pingo assemblages, with potential to extend 1000s of years before present. The project will directly shape local and national nature recover strategies.
Research themes
Project Specific Training
The student will receive one-to-one training on sampling techniques, species identification and DNA analysis. In addition, the student will work with the UCL and Norfolk Ponds Project teams when pingo ponds are restored gaining first-hand experience of practical pond restoration work. The student will be able to join the UCL Pond Restoration Research Group and Norfolk Ponds Project team at local and national conservation meetings, pond restoration courses and at local farmer-conservationist engagement meetings to see how pond restoration science is translated into practice and policy. We will seek CASE funding from the Wildlife Trusts for this project, who have already been supporting the ghost pingos work. The student will benefit from use of the dedicated environmental DNA lab at UCL East and will join a thriving research group environment working on environmental genetics which includes a growing number of research staff and students. The student will be able to make use of a diverse range of internal and external training in UCL.
Potential Career Trajectory
A pathway in academia will be made open through the different fields and skills that the project covers spanning restoration ecology, palaeoecology, resurrection ecology, traditional, remote and eDNA-based biological survey and monitoring. In combining Geography and Biology departments there will be scope to go down either route depending on interests. Data will come quickly in the project providing scope for the writing of several papers during the PhD. In addition, the student will be invited to join in with paper writing within the wider UCL Geography Pond Restoration Research Group and People and Nature Lab eDNA research team. Due to the strong applied angle of the project, as well as potential for considerable engagement with the conservation sector and policy-makers, the project will also provide a very good grounding for career in conservation, including the statutory agencies, NGOs and Government.
Project supervisor/s
Joanna Littlefair
Genetics, Evolution & Environment
UCL
j.littlefair@ucl.ac.uk
Supervision balance
60:40