About me:

I am a biogeochemist with expertise in climatic regulation of carbon fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. My particular area of expertise is peatlands and I have targeted my research to peatlands situated in different climatic zones to build a global perspective. I am also well placed to bridge empirical field/laboratory methods and global modelling. My career aim is to elucidate the unique role of peatlands in the Earth System covering multiple time horizons, e.g. from peat inception and accumulation over the Holocene, through to the potential impacts of enhanced peatland emissions accelerating climate change, with clear policy-relevance for avoiding dangerous climate change. I use a variety of methods in order to achieve this, including gas flux measurements, the paleo-record, modelling and biogeochemistry.

I was recently awarded an ERC Consolidator grant (TroPeaCC) focussed on tropical peatland carbon cycling. This work will complement a NERC funded project entitled: "ICAAP: Increased Carbon Accumulation in Arctic Peatlands". I am co-I in two exciting grants, both studying different aspects of tropical peatlands: "KaLi: Multiple risks associated with drought and peatland fires in Indonesian Borneo" (GCRF funded) and "Ecosystem Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics of Tropical Peatland (EDANDOTP)" funded by the Malaysian Oil Palm Board.

I was previously involved in a NERC-funded project entitled “Peatlands and the global carbon cycle during the past millennium: an assessment using observations and models”. I previously worked in Lund, Sweden, modelling the dynamic interactions of fire, vegetation, climate and human population in Mediterranean areas as part of the FUME European project. Earlier on, I worked at the University of Bristol, on a project entitled “Climate Change and the Uplands” commissioned by the Environment Agency, to study the implications of climate change for peatland soils in the UK and the effects on ecosystem services including carbon storage, flooding and water quality.

Previously, I worked towards a PhD funded by NERC with a CASE studentship entitled “Temperature effects on trace gas production and uptake in aerobic and anaerobic soils” at the University of Bristol

Interests:

I am a biogeochemist and I study peatlands, in particular, I am interesting in the role they play in the C cycle and also in the management of these beautiful ecosystems in order to preserve all of the ecosystem services and invisible benefits they provide. I currently I have projects that span the whole globe from the poles (Arctic, Antarctic) to the tropics (S America, SE Asia, Africa, Australia). I also used a variety of different methods that ranges from palaeo-biogeochemistry to present-day fluxes and future forecasting using models.

1) Understanding the processes driving functioning of peatland ecosystems and the carbon exchanges at the global scale in order to be able to predict their fate in a changing climate. Within this research area, I run a number of on-going projects:

i) The Arctic peatland carbon sink is the focus of the recently awarded NERC-funded project that started in 2019. This project will shed light into the conditions necessary for new peatland expansion in new areas of the Arctic that are now suitable for plant growth due to the lengthening of the growing season. Additionally, the project will explore the response of existing sub-Arctic peatlands to the amplified warming they are experiencing. I am a project partners in two parallel projects also investigating similar topics: an MSB-FRA project: Peat expansion in Arcit Tundra (TundraPEAT) led by Zicheng Yu, US. and a project funded by the Finnish Academy led by Minna Valiranta (Response of high-latitude peatlands to past and recent warming - predictions for future climate feedbacks).

ii) The tropical peatland carbon sink is the focus of the ERC Consolidator grant that will start soon. I will work on the key questions: environmental and climatic controls on peatland extent, controls on carbon accumulation rates and also on methane emissions from tropical peatlands. All are these are areas in which our knowledge is limited. This project proposes to use the palaeo record, modern day fluxes and modelling as complementary tools. This work is also complemented by the grant in which I am a Co-I: “Ecosystem Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics of Tropical Peatlands” funded by the Malaysian Oil Palm Board led by Tim Hill.

iii) Past changes and Antarctic science – I am the main supervisor in a PhD project reconstructing quaternary changes in wind over the Southern Ocean in order to understand how the ocean C sink has changed in the past (student: Alex Whittle, co-supervisors Dan Charman, Dom Hodgson and Stephen Roberts). Additionally, I am also involved in a project to reconstruct temperatures using the peatland record and GDGTs in Antarctic samples (with David Naafs, Bristol and Stephen Roberts at BAS).

iv) Biogeochemistry of peatlands – I am a co-supervisor in a current PhD project working on biomarkers of methanogenic archaea and the development of proxies to understand past changes in the decomposition processes in peatlands based at the University of Bristol (Jerome Blewett: supervised by Dr Naafs and Prof Pancost and myself). And I also co-supervise a PhD project based in Bristol (Anne Eberle: supervised by Casey Bryce) working on Actic peatlands on a project entitled: "How do redox and temperature fluctuations influence mineral protection of organic matter during permafrost thaw?"

2) Peatland management, restoration and land use change impacts on peatland ecosystem functioning. The knowledge derived from the following projects will hopefully be useful in assessing ecosystem service provision and management of peatlands.

i) Peatland ecosystem services in the UK– I currently supervise a project on sphagnum reintroduction in Exmoor peatlands, funded by SWW (student: Paul Tansley), co-supervised by Morag Angus. I am also co-supervisor of a PhD student based at Bristol working in the Welsh peatlands on a project entitled: "Assessing the impact of Black Mountains peatland restoration on freshwater ecosystems" (student: Fin Ring-Hrubesh) supervised by Casey Bryce. I was also a co-I of a UK-focussed project funded by NERC: “Identifying potential tipping points in the benefits derived from the UK's land ecosystems” that has recently finished and was led by Tim Lenton.

ii) Peatland restoration and ecosystem services in the tropics - I am co-I on a GCRF funded project led by Frank Van Veen (KaLi: Multiple Risks associated with drought and peatland fires in Indonesian Borneo. I supervis a PhD project "Understanding the role of fire in Amazonian forests and peatlands", student: Yuwan Wang - funded by QUEX. I am a project partner in a large project understanding effects of land use change and restoration in Indonesia (funded by the Australian Research Council, with Prof Moss). I recently supervised a M Res student (Kennedy Lewis) with Tim Hill working on impacts of oil palm plantations on the biomass stored in Malaysian peatlands.

Qualifications:

PhD in Biogeochemistry of Peatlands. University of Bristol
Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. Canterbury Christ Church University
MSc. Degree in Chemistry. University of Kent
BSc. Degree in Chemistry. Universidad Complutense de Madrid