Dynamic Landscapes, Changing Climate and Ecosystem Functioning: Modelling past losses, present extend and future C storage potential of peatlands within the North York Moors National Park

Soil carbon sequestration targets, such as the ‘4 per mille’ initiative, are a vital tool in mitigating against rising atmospheric CO2 levels. However, indications are that past soil carbon losses due to historic land management (e.g. peat for fuel, grazing, drainage for agriculture) depleted soil carbon stocks, even leading to large-scale peatland losses, which so far are not considered by any climate model. Therefore, a revised potential soil carbon and peat accumulation map is required to compare carbon sequestration rates based on current versus potential SOC stocks. This project has the potential of becoming a step-change in understanding the achievability of the ambitious ’4 per mille’ challenge!

The student will mainly be based at the University of York and work within the Peatland-ES-UK team, assessing management impacts on peatlands, which will be supported by the North-York-Moors National Park Authority (CASE partner). The student will conduct a range of field surveys to undertake the UK’s first ever landscape-scale assessment of potential Holocene SOC losses. She/he will examine the relative importance of climate, management and soil conditions in determining past losses and peat re-creation potential. Field work will be augmented by novel mesocosm studies and in-depth soil analyses in York/Liverpool. Finally, a peatland model can be further developed to explore likely temporal and spatial climate and management scenarios informed by National Park and government agency staff.

This will be the first ever UK field-scale project to unravel the relationship between past management, peatland restoration and future soil carbon sequestration potential, which will inform peatland restoration, management and preservation, aimed at helping to mitigate against the effects of climate change.

There are ample opportunities for the student to learn new or extend existing skills (e.g. C++ coding, GIS analysis, field surveys, C-flux monitoring, spatial modelling) and become involved in collaborations and policy work.