Descripción del proyecto
Repercusiones humanas y climáticas en los ecosistemas de los sumideros de carbono
Los sumideros de carbono son fundamentales para evitar que los niveles de carbono atmosférico aumenten, ya que absorben más carbono del que liberan. Las turberas y las praderas marinas son un agente valioso para resistir al cambio climático, y su conservación es de vital importancia. Debido a la escasez de controles a largo plazo, el conocimiento de los factores que amenazan los sumideros naturales de carbono es limitado. El proyecto PALAEOCON, financiado con fondos europeos, propone un planteamiento paleoecológico para el estudio de los sumideros de carbono terrestres y marinos con el fin de contar con procesos de conservación informados. En el marco proyecto se investigarán las turberas y praderas marinas en la península ibérica para estimar las repercusiones humanas y climáticas en los ecosistemas de sumideros de carbono.
Objetivo
Carbon sink conservation is a priority under the current Global Change scenario. However, our understanding of the factors that threaten natural carbon-storage systems is limited by the paucity of long-term records capturing their responses to anthropogenic- and climate-driven perturbations. Much of this limitation arises from the short time span covered by ecological monitoring, usually going back just a few decades at best. To capture decadal-to-millennial scale dynamics, an alternative approach is to use the palaeoecological record. Here, I propose a multiproxy palaeoecological approach to study the long-term resilience of two paradigmatic terrestrial and marine carbon sinks: peatlands and seagrass meadows. I will monitor changes in biodiversity and carbon storage ability using a state-of-the-art, multidisciplinary combination of palynology and charcoal analysis, dating by lead and carbon isotopes, sedimentology, geochemistry and numerical methods. Integrating these complementary proxies, I will reconstruct millennial-long ecological dynamics (e.g. long-term trends and regime shifts) to evaluate the effect of human and climate impacts on carbon sinks’ ecosystem services. This knowledge will inform conservation priorities by identifying the most influential drivers of ecological change. Moreover, it will propose conservation targets by reconstructing pre-anthropogenic ecosystem states. To increase its translatable impact, PALAEOCON will focus on Iberian habitats that are protected under the Habitats Directive of the European Commission. Indeed, I am committed to engaging with environmental authorities to complement current conservation strategies. On a broader scale, PALAEOCON will produce high-resolution, multiproxy records on the Holocene palaeoenvironmental history of southwestern Europe. By offering valuable insight to both applied and basic science, PALAEOCON will help advance my career aspiration of establishing as a world-class leader in palaeoecology.
Ámbito científico
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesgeologysedimentology
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencespalaeontologypalynology
- natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencespalaeontologypaleoecology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesecologyecosystems
- natural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsnumerical analysis
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinador
15782 Santiago De Compostela
España