GREENCYCLESII
3.7 Function and biogeochemical cycling in extra-tropical terrestrial ecosystems
The research will evaluate existing and develop new algorithms for coupled vegetation and soil nitrogen cycling in extra-tropical ecosystems.
The general focus will be the assessment of the roles of nitrogen cycling for ecosystem structure and function, under present and future environmental conditions, and will quantify relevant feedbacks within the climate system. The project will exploit existing functionality in the well-established JULES model, including the Fixation and Uptake of Nitrogen Model (FUN) and ECOSSE, and the Hadley Centre's flagship climate model, HadGEM2-ES, and the Ecosystem Demography dynamic vegetation model.
First, a literature review will be conducted to evaluate the existing, and develop new, algorithms to explore questions such as the role of nitrogen constraints and plant-fungi symbiosis for ecosystem structure and function, including C storage; and competition between microbes and plants for N deposition. Available field manipulation and forest structure data will be synthesised and simulated ecosystem dynamics will be evaluated at both site and regional scales. Evaluation of simulated vegetation growth against forest inventory data will be undertaken with Microsoft Research Ltd, UK, as well as with world leading ecosystem experts at the University of Leeds.
Primary Supervisor: Prof Peter Cox (University of Exeter)
Secondary Supervisor: Dr Drew Purves (Microsoft Research Limited)
Fellow: Alex Marti Donati