Elliot James Hill
Room details
2nd Floor ECW Building
Qualifications
- First Class Honours Degree (BSc Forestry)
PhD Title (or subject area)
Identification of key factors determining the outcome of competition for organic N in the rhizosphere.
Supervisors
Dr Paul Hill, Professor David Jones
Describe your research
Overview:
Understanding factors controlling key processes of the nitrogen cycle is crucial to production of effective ecosystem models. Most nitrogen enters soil as protein, which is cleaved to amino acids and short peptides before it can be taken up by soil microbes or plant roots. Although it is known that fierce competition between microbes and plants for organic forms of nitrogen takes place at the root surface, the factors controlling the outcome of competition are unknown. This project aims to broaden the knowledge of C and N cycling to facilitate ecosystem modelling. To critically evaluate the importance of amino acid N to N cycling in ecosystems and which factors are the principal determinants of this.
Biography
At undergraduate I studied BSc Forestry (Hons) at Bangor University, and as a result I decided to stay on at Bangor, as I believe it's one of the most beautiful areas to study and live in. I decided to attend university later than some of my peers and found that it gave me a renewed vigour in my approach to working and research. Over the course of my undergraduate studies I developed a deep interest in mycology and other aspects of microbiology and the population dynamics of these taxonomic groups within various ecosystems. Following on from this, I chose a PhD project which would have a diverse range of disciplines simultaneously, whilst also providing links with the wider stakeholder community.