NitroEurope - or NEU for short - is a project for integrated European research into the nitrogen cycle. NitroEurope is part of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development, and will run for 5 years from February 2006 until 2011.
PhD: Changes in greenhouse gas emissions due to conversion of tropical peat swamp forests in Indonesia to oil palm plantation
Submitted by agnieszka_eljasz on Mon, 23/08/2010 - 13:12.
Natural peatlands are being converted to agriculture and forestry at an increasing rate, usually requiring drainage and burning. Because peatlands hold large amounts of carbon (C), these processes have high potential to emit greenhouse gases (GHGs). Carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes from tropical peatlands are larger than from temperate or boreal peats (Jauhiainen et al 2005). Indonesia holds 22-26.5 Mha of peatland, 61% of which were covered by forest vegetation in 2000 (Joosten 2009). However, population growth has resulted in increased land use change, with oil palm and acacia being main drivers for conversion (Ravindranath et al 2009). This resulted in Indonesia being the largest emitter during 2008 of CO2 from drained peatlands (Joosten 2009). The student will investigate the impact of land use change to oil palm on GHG emissions, conducting a year-round sampling of N2O, NO, CH4 and CO2 fluxes from three land-use systems on shallow and deep peat. The systems include virgin peat swamp forest, burnt/logged peat swamp forest, and oil palm plantation. GHG measurements will be collected intensively following N application in plantations. Data will be analyzed using the “Hole-in-Pipe” and ECOSSE models (Smith et al., 2010) and simple predictors of annual GHG fluxes will be identified.
Funding Notes
Candidates must be eligible for UK/EU fee status and should hold a First or Upper Second Class Honours degree, a Masters degree or an equivalent qualification.
To apply, send an application form with a covering letter and an up-to-date CV by email to m.pignotti@abdn.ac.uk. The application form can be downloaded from http://www.abdn.ac.uk/sras/word_docs/pgapp.doc
Where available, please also submit a copy of your degree certificate, transcript of courses and academic references.
Jauhiainen, J.I., Takahashi, H., Heikkinen, J.E.P., Martikainen, P.J. and Vasander, H. (2005) Carbon fluxes from a tropical peat swamp forest floor. Global Change Biology 11, 1788–1797, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2005.01031.x
Joosten, H. (2009) The Global Peatland CO2 Picture, Peatland status and drainage related emissions in all countries of the world. Wetlands International. (Online: www.weltands.org).
Ravindranath N.H., Manuvie, R., Fargione, J., Canadell, J.G, Bernades, G, Woods, J., Watson, H., Sathaye, J. (2009) Greenhouse gas implications of land use and land conversion to biofuel crops. In: Biofuels: Environmental consequences and interactions with changing land use. Howarth, R.W., Bringezu, S. (eds). Scientific committee on problems of the environment, Island Press, New York. (online: http://cip.cornell.edu/biofuels).
Smith J., Gottschalk P., Bellarby J., Chapman S., Lilly A., Towers W., Bell J., Coleman K., Nayak D., Richards M., Hillier J., Flynn H., Wattenbach M., Aitkenhead M., Yeluripurti J., Farmer J., Milne R., Thomson A., Evans C., Whitmore A., Falloon P., Smith P. 2010. Estimating changes in national soil carbon stocks using ECOSSE – a new model that includes upland organic soils. Part I. Model description and uncertainty in national scale simulations of Scotland. Climate Research (in press – doi: 10.3354/cr00899).
