Peatland carbon balance and climate change: from the past to the future

Peatlands are the largest terrestrial carbon store, locking away more carbon as peat than in all the world’s vegetation combined. What happens to this carbon store in the future will determine our future climate. Quantifying the potential sensitivity of peatlands to future change is therefore vital to understanding the earth’s radiative balance and identifying climate feedbacks. For example, whilst warming may promote plant growth increasing the rate of peat formation and carbon sink strength, drying may lead to faster decomposition rates, greater peat loss and therefore decreased carbon sink strength. Which of these processes will dominate? To address such questions the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology currently operates a unique set of peatland monitoring sites- the Carbon Catchments (http://www.ceh.ac.uk/sci_programmes/carbonexchangeatthecatchmentscale.htm) - which are now some of the best-studied peatlands in the world. However these measurements only provide information on carbon balance for the recent past whilst peatland ecohydrological responses to climate change may take decades or centuries. To gain a deeper understanding and make better predictions for the future we need studies which link detailed mechanistic information from current monitoring with the longer temporal reach of palaeoecological records.
In this project the student will apply palaeoecological techniques to the four Carbon Catchment sites to put contemporary carbon budgets in a long-term context, quantify the temporal variability in carbon accumulation, test the linkages between long-term carbon accumulation, climate and vegetation succession and apply an ecosystem model to test our ability to predict future changes.
The supervisory team combines experts in palaeoecology with experts in biogeochemistry. The student will be based at the University at York but will also spend time at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Edinburgh. The student will therefore benefit from the wide range of research facilities, scientific expertise and the thriving student communities of both the University of York as well as CEH, a major UK research centre.
The student will receive training in all methods to be used in the project including palaeoecological techniques (carbon content, testate amoeba and plant macrofossil analysis), dating methods (radiocarbon and tephrochronology), statistics, modeling and GIS. The project is open to students with at least a 2i degree (and ideally masters) in Geography, Environmental Science or Biology (or a closely-related subject) and interests in palaeoecology, biogeochemistry or ecology. Interested students are encouraged to contact the first supervisor for further information.

This PhD project is part of the NERC funded Doctoral Training Partnership “ACCE” (Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment). This is a partnership between the Universities of York, Sheffield and Liverpool, and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

Selection process: Shortlisting will take place as soon as possible after the closing date and successful applicants will be notified promptly. Shortlisted applicants will be invited for an interview to take place at the University of York on w/c 9th February 2015. Video interviews can be arranged for international applicants.

Interested candidates are strongly encouraged to contact the main supervisor and discuss the project prior to applying.

http://www.york.ac.uk/environment/postgraduate/nercdtp/#tab-1