Researching ecosystem change in Amazonia and Africa
Lawson et al. “The geochemistry of Amazonian peats” is available at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13157-014-0552-z. This paper discusses new and existing geochemical data from Quistococha, Peru, and attempts to build a framework for interpreting peat chemistry. This is an important tool for understanding the processes of peat accumulation and decay, and ecosystem functioning.
A further radiocarbon allocation in support of Tom Kelly’s project, “Peatland development and sensitivity to climatic change at two sites in Amazonian Peru” (PI Ian Lawson), has been awarded. This is a NERC radiocarbon allocation, number 1747.1013, approximate value £6960.
A new paper by Ed Mitchard and others, using forest census plot data generated under our first NERC project, has been published in Global Ecology and Biogeography (Katy Roucoux is a co-author). You can find the paper here.
A new paper by Graeme Swindles et al. on the ecology of testate amoebae has appeared in Microbial Ecology. Co-authors include Freddie Draper, Katy Roucoux and Tim Baker. The work grew out of Graeme and Katy’s Royal Society grant. You can find the paper here.
Ian Lawson and Greta Dargie have received a NERC grant-in-kind, “Quantifying and understanding tropical peatland spatial distribution and carbon storage in Central Africa” (13 AMS dates), allocation number 1797.0414, approximate value £8320.
Greta Dargie, Freddie Draper, Tom Kelly and Ian Lawson attended this meeting, which focused on the use of remote sensing techniques to map tropical peatland extent and other characteristics.
The article, Peatlands in the Western Amazon by Tom Kelly and Freddie Draper has just appeared in NERC’s in-house scientific showcase magazine. It puts Tom and Freddie’s work on Amazonian peatlands into context. You can view it online here.
Some nice new images of Eschweilera, Mauritia, and a detail of Mauritia sculpture, taken by Tom Kelly.
Tom Kelly presented a poster on his research at the 50th anniversary meeting of the Quaternary Research Association.
Ian Lawson and Greta Dargie have been awarded radiocarbon dates to support Greta’s project. The dating allocation, “Determining and explaining the spatial distribution and carbon storage of peats in the Congo Basin, Central Africa, is NERC allocation number 1688.0313, approximate value £5220.