Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/C508934/1
The use of bacterial and higher plant biomarkers to track changes in wetland extent since the last Glacial period.
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor RD Pancost, University of Bristol, Chemistry
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor MA Maslin, University College London, Geography
- Grant held at:
- University of Bristol, Chemistry
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Marine
- Freshwater
- Earth
- Overall Classification:
- Earth
- ENRIs:
- Global Change
- Biodiversity
- Science Topics:
- Environmental Microbiology
- Biogeochemical Cycles
- Land - Ocean Interactions
- Quaternary Science
- Palaeoenvironments
- Climate & Climate Change
- Abstract:
- Currently there is considerable debate about the respective importance of the marine (clathrates) and terrestrial (wetlands) realms in governing atmospheric methane concentrations both in the past and in the future. This is of critical importance to scientists and policy makers at national and international levels. Anthropogenic-induced warming could result in elevated bottom-water temperatures in continental margin settings, resulting in clathrate dissolution, slope destabilisation and potentially a significant increase in atmospheric methane concentrations. Similarly, global warming will likely cause increased precipitation and bacterial activity, such that wetlands could expand and associated methane emissions increase. Our best insight into the sensitivity of such systems to climatic perturbations derives from their responses to past climatic events and, of these, the dramatic increase in atmospheric methane concentrations during the last deglaciation is of greatest relevance to understanding methane biogeochemistry in the modern climate mode. The proposed research will use the abundances of specific biomarkers for bacterial processes in wetlands to provide a better understanding of the controls on atmospheric methane variation since the Last Glacial Maximum. Specifically, we will determine the abundances of these compounds in sediments of the Amazon and Congo River fans. As the catchment areas of these rivers cover vast portions of South America and Africa, these records will represent a spatially averaged signal of wetland extent. From the biomarker abundance records, we can ascertain whether or not a significant expansion of tropical wetlands occurred coincidentally with the increase in methane concentrations. This will provide crucial insight into the role of wetlands - and by comparison, that of clathrates - as a positive feedback on Holocene climate.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/C508934/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Directed Pre FEC
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- IODP
This grant award has a total value of £90,259
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| Total - Staff | Total - T&S | Total - Other Costs | Total - Indirect Costs |
|---|---|---|---|
| £55,272 | £4,441 | £5,121 | £25,425 |
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