project manager:
Anna Alekseevna Sinyutkina
The project is aimed at solving the scientific problem of assessing the transformation of carbon balance within the bog ecosystems of Western Siberia as a result of fire. Natural fires have important consequences for the structure and functioning of ecosystems and are one of the key factors of the carbon cycle on Earth. Increased fire activity will have global implications especially in the regions which are most vulnerable to climate change, which is relevant for the northern latitudes of Russia in general and Western Siberia in particular.
The expected increase in the frequency and severity of wildfires will lead to increased carbon losses from peatlands, contributing to a shift in the balance from carbon sink to carbon source. Understanding the processes involved in the effects of bog fires is critical in determining carbon emissions and the impact of peatlands on its global carbon cycle (Nelson et al, .2021). It is important to understand the mechanisms of the interactions between the level of pyrogenic load and the components of the bog ecosystem (water-vegetation-peat) to effectively manage and predict changes in the bog ecosystems. Negative feedbacks governing the interaction of hydrologic conditions and vegetation cover properties are critical in maintaining the resilience of these ecosystems and preserving the primary ecosystem function of atmospheric carbon sequestration (Kettridge et all., 2014).
The objective of the study is to identify regularities of pyrogenic transformation and post-pyrogenic dynamics of Western Siberian bogs in different climatic conditions, assess their water-thermal, microbiological and biogeochemical regimes, successional post-pyrogenic development of vegetation, production and destruction processes, carbon-absorbing function of ecosystems and their interrelationships using the materials of complex field and laboratory studies and geoinformation modeling methods based on the ground and satellite data. The scientific novelty of the research consists in obtaining new comprehensive data on the state and trends in the development of post-pyrogenic sphagnum bogs of forest-tundra and taiga zones of Western Siberia 6-10 years after the fire.
An answer to the question of how intensively the transformation of water-physical properties of peat deposit occurs as a result of the fires of different intensity, in particular, the ability to retain water in the acrotelm, and how it affects the process of recolonization of sphagnum mosses after the fire, biogeochemical and microbiological regimes will be obtained; the regularities of pyrogenic succession, features of restoration of vegetation cover components, primary production and destruction of ecosystems will be determined; quantitative estimates of the volume of accumulation and destruction of ecosystems will be obtained.
Investigators: Anna Alekseevna Sinyutkina, 35 years old, Candidate of Science in Geography, Senior Researcher, SibNIISKhIT – Branch of SFSCA RAS, employment contract
Yulia Aleksandrovna Kharangevskaya, 38, Candidate of Science in Geology and Mineralogy, Senior Researcher, SibNIISKhIT – Branch of SFSCA RAS, employment contract
Tatyana Ivanovna Zyubanova, 30, Junior Researcher, SibNIISKhIT – Branch of SFSCA RAS, postgraduate student of the RI TSU, employment contract
Ludmila Pavlovna Gashkova, 51, Candidate of Science in Geography, Senior Researcher, SibNIISKhIT – Branch of SFSCA RAS, employment contract