© W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2012 DOI 10.1179/1350503312Z.00000000011 conservation and mgmt of arch. sites, Vol. 14 Nos 1–4, 2012, 126–49 Lowland Floodplain Responses to Extreme Flood Events: Long-Term Studies and Short-Term Microbial Community Response to Water Environment Impacts Malcolm Lillie Department of Geography, Environment and Earth Sciences, University of Hull, UK Isabel Soler Department of Civil & Structural Engineering, University of Sheffield, UK Robert Smith Wetland Archaeology & Environments Research Centre, University of Hull, UK Targeted studies of waterlogged burial environments allow researchers to gain holistic insights into the physico-chemical and biological condition of wetlands that have the potential to contain organic remains of both anthro- pogenic and biogenic origin. Recent research has shown that microbial community diversity and functioning are intimately linked to physical and chemical parameters, such that environmental perturbations may have the potential to enhance the effectiveness of microbial communities in the degradation process. Our studies have shown that, as a consequence of the 2007 floods which impacted upon many British lowland rivers, a rapid microbial response to environmental perturbations can be demonstrated within the wetland deposits being monitored. As such, a quantification of the latent functionality of micro-organisms in a soil profile may be of funda- mental importance for our understanding of potential in situ degradation processes; and, as a consequence, the likelihood for the biodegradation of sensitive archaeo-organic remains; a factor which is of primary importance for both ongoing and future mitigation strategies, and attempts at managing the cultural resource of wetlands. This paper will present a consideration of the effectiveness of a long-term research project in a lowland wetland at Newington, Nottinghamshire,