Descrizione del progetto
Gli impatti dell’uomo e del clima sugli ecosistemi dei pozzi di assorbimento del carbonio
I pozzi di assorbimento del carbonio sono essenziali per prevenire l’aumento dei livelli atmosferici del carbonio, in quanto ne assorbono più di quanto ne rilasciano. Le torbiere e le praterie oceaniche sono preziosi fattori di resistenza ai cambiamenti climatici e la loro conservazione è quindi di importanza vitale. A causa della scarsità di un monitoraggio a lungo termine, le conoscenze delle cause che minacciano i pozzi naturali di assorbimento del carbonio sono limitate. Il progetto PALAEOCON, finanziato dall’UE, propone un approccio paleoecologico per studiare i pozzi di assorbimento del carbonio terrestri e marini al fine di acquisire maggiori informazioni utili per i processi di conservazione. Il ricercatore approfondirà lo studio delle torbiere e delle praterie oceaniche nella penisola iberica per stimare gli impatti dell’uomo e del clima sugli ecosistemi dei pozzi di assorbimento del carbonio.
Obiettivo
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.
Campo scientifico
- 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
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
15782 Santiago De Compostela
Spagna