Microbial Communities as Indicators of Non-persistent Pesticides

This project aims to deliver a short-term soil microcosm experiment to reveal the soil microbial responses to application of commonly used pesticides. Analysis of the microbial communities using metabarcoding will be used to identify any consistent community changes which might be used as indicators of exposure, or to evaluate pesticide impact. These indicators would be used to interpret microbial community data from the England Ecosystem Survey, a national soil monitoring programme, to indicate possible levels of...