Changes in peatland biogeochemistry

我的研究计划确定如何水文，气候和生态系统的结构和功能相互作用，以控制陆地生态系统中的地球化学循环。 我的项目目前的重点是北方泥炭地，因为它们在全新世和当代碳循环中的潜在重要性，因此气候。 泥炭地的“泥炭”代表了大气CO2的巨大（~ 400 Pg C）去除，泥炭的缺氧分解是大气CH 4的来源。 泥炭地与水文有着复杂的适应性联系，在北方地区，泥炭地是永久冻土。 超过30%的泥炭地位于永久冻土区。 气候预测表明，到2100年，活动层深度增加，地表水文随之发生变化。 多年冻土流失将改变泥炭地的土壤地球化学和植被结构，但气候，水文和泥炭地生态系统功能和结构之间的启发式联系的研究很少。 一阶问题，如“与地表气候的植被结构变化的直接影响相比，温室生态地球化学变化的相对重要性是什么？”和“永久冻土损失会影响水载碳损失吗？“，尚未得到解决。 模拟模式缺乏必要的功能来模拟这些变化，DOC输出途径在很大程度上被忽略，即使它似乎是相同的数量级的净大气交换。

My research program determines how hydrology, climate, and ecosystem structure and function interact to control biogeochemical cycling in terrestrial ecosystems. The current focus of my program is on northern peatlands because of their potential importance in Holocene and contemporary carbon cycle, and hence climate. The 'peat' of peatlands represents a huge (~ 400 Pg C) removal of atmospheric CO2, and the anoxic decomposition of peat is a source of atmospheric CH4. Peatlands are complexly and adaptively linked to hydrology, and in northern regions permafrost. Over 30% of peatlands are located in permafrost regions. Climate predictions indicate that by 2100 an increase in active layer depth, with consequent changes in surface hydrology. Permafrost loss will alter both peatland biogeochemistry and vegetation structure but there has been little research on the heuristic links among climate, hydrology and peatland ecosystem function and structure. First order questions such as 'What is the relative importance of changes in greenhouse biogeochemistry compared to the direct affects of changes in vegetation structure of surface climate - e.g. albedo and energy partitioning?', and "Does permafrost loss affect the water borne loss of carbon?', have yet to be addressed. Simulation models lack the necessary functions to simulate these changes, and DOC export pathway has largely been ignored even though it appears to be of the same order of magnitude as the net atmospheric exchanges.