Research project: The role of lakes in the arctic carbon cycle (LAC) (NERC funded)
The Arctic is changing rapidly, and it is predicted that areas which are today tundra will become tree-covered as warming progresses, with, for example, forest spreading northwards to the coast of northern European Russia by 2100. In some parts of the Arctic, such as Alaska, this process, commonly referred to as “greening”, has already been observed over the past few decades: woody shrubs are expanding their distribution northwards into tundra. Such vegetation changes influence nutrient cycling in soils, including carbon cycling, but the extent to which they will change the storage or release of carbon at a landscape scale is debated. Nor do we fully understand the role that lakes play in this system - but it is known that many lakes in the tundra and northern forests are today releasing carbon dioxide (and methane) into the atmosphere in significant amounts, and a proportion of this carbon comes into the lake from the vegetation and soils of the surrounding landscape.
