 |
Audrey WayollePhD Research Student (Environmental Science)MSc Université de Caen 2007 Supervisors: Dr Philip Wookey (Stirling University) Dr Mathew Williams (Edinburgh University) Start Date: 1st October 2007 tel: +44 1786
466542 |
Research Project : Arctic and upland soils as carbon sinks
Funding: Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment and Society http://www.sages.ac.uk/
The soils of boreal forest and tundra regions take a central position in the debate on potential effects of environmental change on the global C cycle. This is because of the massive (although poorly quantified) amount of C in the northern, high latitude soils; the predicted greater-than-average climate warming at these latitudes (ACIA 2004); a lesser degree of ‘chemical stabilisation’ of soil organic matter compared with soils in warmer ecosystems; and the hypothesised enhanced microbial responses to small changes in temperature and moisture in cold ecosystems. Unfortunately, however, estimates of the size of soil C pools at high latitudes, and their potential to respond to change, remain very crude. The primary objective of this studentship is therefore to determine the degree to which detailed topographic information (Digital Elevation Models: DEMs) can be used to model and map spatial variability in soil C pools. The hypothesis underpinning this work is that topographic controls on soil hydrological regimes and vegetation communities in sub-arctic ecosystems are useful primary predictors of the size of soil C pools.
The methods involve using DEMs available for complex landscapes in Swedish and Finnish Lapland as the basis for a stratified random sampling of soils in contrasting landscape units, and determination of the pool sizes and depth distributions of soil C. This information, together with measured and modelled soil hydrology and mapping of vegetation communities in the contrasting landscape units, will be used to develop and validate a landscape model of soil C densities. The project will interface with the new NERC Arctic IPY ABACUS project using data collected by the Edinburgh-based research aircraft. The project thus combines fieldwork in Sweden and Finland with soil sampling and analysis, and modelling.
Arctic Biosphere Atmosphere Coupling at Multiple Scales http://www.abacus-ipy.org/
External activities
Member of the Association of Early Career Polar Scientists http://arcticportal.org/apecs
Member of the British society of Soil Science http://www.soils.org.uk/
Committee member of the Stirling Postgraduate Society http://www.societies.stir.ac.uk/phd/index.htm
