Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The goal of this research program is to acquire a better process-based understanding of the environmental factors that affect soil organic matter storage and structure alongside production and consumption of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane through soil profiles of managed forests. The evaluation of stable isotope techniques as a tool for separating cycling processes comprises a key component of this research plan, and is designed to contribute to a better understanding of stable isotopes as tracers of biogeochemical processes in managed environments. Over the short term, the specific objectives are: (1) to investigate how soil-atmosphere exchanges of greenhouse gases change through a forest harvest cycle and to understand the processes controlling net soil surface and depth-dependent exchanges, (2) to investigate factors that may be responsible for accelerated deep soil organic carbon decomposition following harvesting, and (3) to investigate how forest harvesting has altered the pattern of nitrogen storage and transport, and its potential consequences for soil organic carbon storage. Over the long term, the objectives of this research are to contribute to improved quantification of carbon and nitrogen dynamics in managed and unmanaged watersheds and to develop a clear process-based understanding of their sensitivities to environmental change. Using an experimental design that incorporates field, climate-controlled phytotron, and laboratory approaches, the proposed research will improve our current understanding of the factors that control soil-atmosphere carbon and nitrogen exchanges in managed forest soils. This information will improve our ability to simulate changes in forested ecosystems under future climate change scenarios and landuse practices, parameterize and develop process-based models, test the utility of existing biogeochemical models, as well as develop solid landuse management policies and climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies.