ELIGIBILITY: This project is for a student taking the MSc in Statistics and Sustainability.
In agriculture, grasslands can play an important role in producing feed for animals and maintaining soil health in crop rotations. In recent years, mixing plant species with complementary traits have been proposed to reduce the quantity of synthetic fertiliser required to maintain an agricultural grassland, without causing a loss in production. There are many negative environmental impacts of applying synthetic fertiliser, thus reducing its application improves the sustainability of the system. There may also be other management factors that could be altered to further improve the sustainability of these production systems. An agricultural grassland field experiment was carried out in Iceland where plant diversity and cutting regime management were manipulated across plots and harvested over three years. This project will investigate the relative importance of plant diversity and cutting regime on yield production over time.