Ecological impacts of anthelmintic usage on soil micro- and mesofaunal communities

About the Project

Background: Parasitic helminth infections are ubiquitous in grazing livestock throughout the world, causing significant economic and animal health burdens. Treatment and control of these parasites rely on a limited number of anthelmintic classes, but resistance to all classes is now widespread. There is increasing concern about the fate of anthelmintics in the environment once excreted from treated animals, where subtherapeutic and off-target exposure may perturb soil microbial and invertebrate communities and select for resistance in free-living stages of parasites. Anthelmintics have a degree of broad-spectrum activity against both non-target nematode species and other invertebrates. Notably there is well documented anthelmintic activity against dung beetles and flies; the macrocyclic lactones, including ivermectin and moxidectin, have well-established detrimental impacts on dung fauna. Soils host ~60% of all known diversity represented by a range of functional taxa that mediate key soil processes delivering essential ecosystem services including support for agricultural production, and climate change mitigation. Lacking is knowledge on the impact, if any, of anthelmintic activity on these non-target soil taxa. This studentship seeks to address this knowledge deficit by bringing together expertise from two Scottish Main Research Providers, The James Hutton Institute and Moredun Research, and the University of Glasgow.

Aim: To understand the impact, if any, of anthelmintic exposure on the (functional) biodiversity of key soil taxa (bacteria, fungi, nematode and in doing so the studentship seeks to test the overarching hypothesis that natural spatial and temporal variation of soil taxa is greater than detectable effects of anthelmintics.

Methods/Approach: Using controlled and field experimentation coupled with an ‘omics approach, the proposed studentship will measure drug residues in the environment with mass spectrometry, and characterise nematode, bacterial and fungal populations in faeces and soil with amplicon metabarcoding alongside anthelminthic resistance markers in the nematode population.

Outline plan (up to first annual report, ~ 12 months): Month 1 will encompass the usual inductions and getting to know the supervisory team, ensuring that meetings with the supervisors are in the calendar.

• Months 1-3: conduct a literature review of the known effects of anthelmintics on soil invertebrate communities and write a report which will become a live document updated as appropriate that will represent the foundation of the month 11 report and thesis introduction.
• Months 3-6: undertake relevant training in veterinary fieldwork and parasitology. Based on knowledge gaps identified from the literature review, apply training to date, to co-design with the supervisors a pilot experiment under controlled condition that delivers additional training in experimental design, sampling strategies and aspects of core methodology but generates a first dataset for the student. Towards the end of this period, design and present a poster at the Hutton annual PhD student conference that outlines the overarching hypothesis that is being tested in the studentship, highlights the identified knowledge gaps and an outline of methods that would be used to deliver the studentship.
• Months 7-9: with the supervisors, reflect on the outcomes of the pilot experiment, identifying any aspect that could be improved. Intense period of training in laboratory skills associated with molecular biology and soil ecology methods relevant to the studentship, including nematode extraction from soil, sample preparation for DNA extraction, DNA extraction, and sample preparation for amplicon sequencing (16S, bacteria; ITS, fungi; 18S, nematode) using an Illumina NextSeq platform.
• Month 10-12: apply training received and knowledge gained to draft the design of first field experiment. Towards the end of this period, write a 12-month report on studentship progress and present progress to evaluation committee.
• Months 1-12: notwithstanding mandatory training from each project partner, based on the skillset of the successful student identify training needs for successful delivery of the studentship and action training.

HOW TO APPLY

To obtain application forms and further details of how to apply, please register your interest for this project.

Your full application must include the following documents:

• your completed Application Form
• your completed EDI form
• copy of all degree transcripts (please include Postgraduate qualifications if held, & provisional transcripts for incomplete courses)
• an academic CV
• two academic references

It is the applicant’s responsibility to ensure all documents are submitted by the Thursday 21st May, 2026 deadline. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Funding Notes

This 3.5yr PhD project is a competition jointly funded by The James Hutton Institute and the University of Glasgow. This opportunity is open to UK students and will provide funding to cover a stipend and UK level tuition. International students may apply, but must fund the difference in fee levels between UK level tuition and international tuition fees. Students must meet the eligibility criteria as outlined in the UKRI guidance on UK and international candidates. Applicants will have a first-class honours degree in a relevant subject or a 2.1 honours degree plus Masters (or equivalent).