Project proposal form
Project title: Clean Seas & Beaches?: Microbial Communities in Beach Sand and Seawater
Project code:
Host institution: University of Warwick
Theme: Anthropogenic Impact
Key words: bacterial & emerging contaminants, solute transport, DNA sequencing, Coastal Waters
Supervisory team (including institution & email address):
Dr Jonathan Pearson, Associate Professor, School of Engineering, U. Warwick, J.M.Pearson@warwick.ac.uk
Dr Hendrik Schäfer, Associate Professor, School of Life Sciences, U. Warwick, H.Schaefer@warwick.ac.uk
Prof Gary Bending, Professor, School of Life Sciences, U. Warwick Gary.Bending@warwick.ac.uk
Dr Mohaddeseh Mousavi Nezhad, Assistant Professor, Sch Engineering, M.Mousavi-Nezhad@warwick.ac.uk
Project Highlights:
●Physical modelling: development of an
environmental coastal microcosm to investigate
effect of wave activity & sea level to improve the
understanding of key processes in coastal regions.
Opportunity of fieldwork validation on beaches
around Europe.
●Numerical modelling: adaption of the average
advection– dispersion (AAD) transport model
transport in heterogeneous porous media for use in
real-world coastal scenarios.
●Biological mapping: bacterial colonisation and
distribution in the beach sand using DNA sequencing
to investigate the recruitment /settlement/
colonisation of microorganisms.
Overview:
Coastal areas are undergoing
environmental decline in many countries (Creel,
2003). The reasons for
environmental decline
are complex, but
population factors play
a significant role.
Today, approximately
3 billion people, about
half of the world’s
population, live within
Beach sand contains levels of E. coli 10
200 kilometres of a
to 100 times higher than beach water (from
The Globe & Mail, 12 Aug 09 - EYEWIRE)
coastline.
While
governmental authorities around the world regularly
test water for E. coli and report the levels detected to
the public, they don’t test the beach material itself.
Whitman & Nevers (2003) demonstrated on the
nearshore water of a Lake Michigan beach that on
average, beach sand contains levels of E. coli 10 to
100 times higher than beach water and reports that
the highest concentration of E.coli is one metre
shoreward from the shoreline, i.e. the dirtiest sand
may be where children play. Zhang et al (2015) report
similar findings, noting that bacteria from wastewater
overflows lasted longer on sand washed by
contaminated water than in the water itself.
Specifically, two forms of fecal bacteria found in
wastewater -- Enterococci and Clostridium perfringens
– decayed at a much slower rate on the sand.
Numerous studies [e.g. Munaron et al (2002),
Monirith (2003), Gough (1994)] have also detected a
large
range
of
emerging
contaminants
(Pharmaceuticals, alkylphenols and pesticides), in
coastal waters around the world. The overall aims of
this project are to improve the understanding and
descriptions of key transport processes in coastal
waters, with particular emphasis on exchange
processes influencing contamination into beaches.
The project has four main objectives to:
• perform turbulent velocity, momentum transport
and tracer measurements in 2D laboratory flumes
within the water column and beach material, and
interpret and quantify the bed exchange and solute
transport mechanisms.
• develop algorithms to predict dispersion coefficients
and bed exchange mechanisms due to wave-current
processes and derive algorithms describing the
dispersion, pumping & diffusion in terms of wave and
flow parameters
• develop methods to detect bacterial colonisation
and distribution in the beach sand using throughput
sequencing
to
investigate
the
recruitment/settlement/colonisation
of
microorganisms. We will map the physicochemical
environment and measure pH, dissolved oxygen,
redox potential in order to relate community
composition to environmental conditions.
• adapt the average advection– dispersion (AAD)
transport model transport in heterogeneous porous
media for use in real-world coastal scenarios. The
variability of the dispersion coefficient with distance
has motivated a strong interest for alternative
models.
Methodology:
You will utilise the research grade wave flume at the
University of Warwick to assess the effects of wave
height and period on the release of contaminants in
coastal waters. You will adopt a recently developed
novel technology using fluorescent tracers by the
partners which for the very 1st time allows the
determination of a localised mixing coefficient in the
seawater.

computational skills required to underpin
research into solute mixing processes. .
Engaging the PhD researcher (through existing
established collaborations) on secondments
to a world leading water company, and a
world leading national research laboratory in
Water.
Partners and collaboration (including CASE): You
will work with some of the world leading experts in
this field. The project team include Dr Jonathan
Pearson, whose main thrust of research is diffusive
and dispersive mechanisms in the coastal region, Dr
Hendrik Schäfer whose expertise lies in microbial
degradation of organic compounds in the marine
environment, Prof Gary Bending whose expertise lies
in bioavailability and biodegradation of pesticides in
soil, and the biodegradation of chemicals in water and
sediment, & Dr. Mohaddeseh Mousavi Nezhad from
the Warwick Centre for Predictive Modelling, her
expertise lies in flow through porous media. 12 NERC
grants totalling over £2Million, many of which are in
the marine environment have been awarded to
members of the project team to date.
Possible timeline:
Unpublished data on the spatial variation in cross-shore mixing in the surfzone
You will develop methods to detect bacterial
colonisation and distribution in the beach sand using
throughput sequencing. In addition the microbial
communities will be tracked and mapped using a
combination of physical approaches; 1) using a nonpathogenic isolate that can be traced using plating
onto agar, ideally using a conspicuous pigmented
strain, and 2) preparing a fluorescently labelled
bacteria. Practically this means establishing the
bacterial strain, growing cells, and labelling with a
fluorescent tracer.
You will exploit a method developed by the partners
(Mousavi Nezhad et al., 2013) to establish an
innovative physical modelling system to investigate
the residence time distribution and its influence on
the microbiology. The physical, chemical and
biological transport processes will be simulated in the
laboratory, using a combination of CT scanning and 3D
printing of localized sections of the beach material to
build heterogeneous models.
Training and skills: This project aims to provide an
environment where first class research is the norm
and where the Phd researcher is part of a unique
intellectual community. The training programme will
provide the ‘trans-boundary’ skills required for
research into the fates of pollutants, together with a
comprehensive
training
in
complementary
'transferable' skills. The major strengths of the
training program will be:
 Extensive, individually-tailored training in the
experimental,
mathematical
and
Year 1: Establishment of flume microcosm & bacterial
colonisation protocols.
Year 2: Experimental studies including mapping of the
bacterial colonisation with the seawater and beach.
Year 3: Predicitive modelling within the seawater and
beach using research grade CRF software tools (e.g.
OpenFOAM & SPH)
Further reading:
Pearson J.M., Guymer I., Coates L.E., West J.R., (2009)
‘On-off shore Solute Mixing in the Surf-Zone’. J.
Wtrwy., Port, Coast., and Oc. Engng., ASCE. Vol.135
(No.4). pp. 127-134.
Mousavi Nezhad M., Javadi, A.A., AL-Tabbaa, A. and
Abbasi, F. (2013). Numerical study of soil
heterogeneity effects on contaminant transport in
unsaturated soil; model development and validation.
International Journal of Numerical and Analytical
Methods in Geomechanics, 37(3), 278-298.
Bending, G.D., Lincoln, S.D., Edmondson R.N. (2006)
Spatial variation in the degradation rate of the
pesticides isoproturon, azoxystrobin and diflufenican
in soil and its relationship with chemical and microbial
properties.Environmental Pollution 139, 279-287.
Boden, R., Murrell, J.C., and H.Schäfer. 2011.
Dimethylsulfide is an energy source for the
heterotrophic
marine
bacterium Sagittula
stellata. FEMS Microbiol. Lett. 322, 188-193
Further details:
Dr Jonathan Pearson, School of Engineering
J.M.Pearson@warwick.ac.uk, +44 (0)24 765 22844