Experimental Plan:

Intact swards of 30cm diameter to a depth of 20cm were taken from the field site at Sourhope  on 15th March. Paired cores were taken from all Control 1 plots with an extra pair taken from blocks 3,4 and 5 giving 8 replicates of each treatment. A minirhizotron tube (50mm internal diameter) at an angle of 30 degrees from vertical was placed in each sward before it was dug up. Mesh (24 squares to the inch) was placed over the bottom of the sward to prevent the escape of invertebrates and also as a rim 10 cm high around the upper edge of the pots. 

The swards will be allowed to stabilise for 2 months before measurement begins. A temperature probe was inserted in two of each treatment to a depth of 5 cm. Pots are watered to field capacity twice a week. Filming will be carried out weekly till early September. All swards will be filmed for 4 weeks before the addition of insecticide to 8 replicates. Cutting and insecticide application will be carried out on a timescale equivalent to the field experiment.

At harvest a 3.5 cm core will be taken from each replicate, washed, and root biomass of living and dead roots will be assessed as for root cores from the field site. An 8cm core (depth 8cm) will be taken for microbial analysis. The remaining sward will be sent to Phil  Murray for extraction of invertebrates and sub-samples  sent to Alan Gange  (mycorrhizal assessment), Roger Cook (nematode assessment), and Richard Bardgett and Lisa Cole (colembola and mite assessment).

Analysis of video tapes will be carried out for invertebrate numbers, root turnover and cohort analysis.