I am currently a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
My current research is looking at boreal peatland disturbances and restoration. This involves fieldwork across multiple boreal peatland sites in Alberta, Canada, including;
Impact of wildfire on methane (CH4) emissions and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) at a boreal fen, Alberta, Canada.
Boreal peatlands represent a globally important store of carbon, and disturbances such as wildfire can have a significant positive feedback to the climate. Understanding how carbon cycling and greenhouse gas (GHG) dynamics are impacted after a wildfire is important, especially as boreal peatlands may be vulnerable to changes in wildfire regime under a rapidly changing climate.
Field measurements of CH4 flux and DOC are being collected, alongside associated environmental variables in a forested fen near Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada which was partially burned by the Horse River Wildfire in 2016.
Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery to map vegetation communities across disturbed and restored boreal peatland sites.
This project is looking at utilising the advancement of low-cost, high resolution imagery collected from UAVs to create fine-scale vegetation and topographic maps. These can be used in monitoring ecosystem restoration as well as be used within further models of carbon exchange across disturbed sites.
Collaboration with Boreal Ecosystem and Recovery Assessment (BERA)
This project is evaluating soil compaction on seismic lines by measuring a range of soil properties on and off lines and following mounding treatment.
For more information see here
CH4 emissions from peatland trees
This was a fun project working alongside an undergraduate student looking at methane emissions from trees at a temperate peatland. I shall be taking these chambers up to northern Alberta in summer 2019 to try them out on boreal peatland tree species (likely black spruce and tamarack).
Previous research:
I recently completed my PhD at the University of Sheffield, supervised by Dr. Donatella Zona (also at San Diego State University), Dr. Gareth Phoenix and Dr. Maria J. Santos (Utrecht University)
My PhD be split into three themes:
Vegetation and CH4 emissions from Arctic tundra ecosystems
Remote sensing of Arctic tundra ecosystems using field spectroscopy and multispectral imagery
Upscaling CH4 emissions using high resolution remote sensing
Other interests:
Vegetation colonisation of debris covered-glaciers in Alpine ecosystems
