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I am an ecosystem ecologist with a passion for high latitude ecosystems and interested in the interplay of plants and their environment. My work in arctic tundra, boreal forest and peatlands focuses on belowground ecology, such as root phenology, plant-soil interactions, and soil fauna, and often includes measurements outside the summer season.

My current projects include:

Root responses to snow cover changes and reindeer grazing

Boreal ecosystems are shaped by two major, interacting global change factors: changes in the thickness of the snow cover in winter, and grazing by large herbivores (reindeer). The EcoClimate Experiment at the Oulanka Research Station is a large, long-term experiment which includes snow addition and removal, as well as herbivore exclosures in two habitats: a dry oligotrophic Scots pine forest and a nutrient rich fen site.

This project is led by PhD student Johannes Cunow, and he studies how reindeer grazing and changes in snow cover influence root dynamics (production, phenology, mortality, turnover).The EcoClimate experiment owned and maintained by the Oulanka Research Station (University of Oulu) under the leadership of Riku Paavola, and we additionally collaborate with Maria Väisänen (University of Oulu).

Earthworms effects on plants and soils in northern ecosystems

Earthworms are powerful ecosystem engineers that alter the physical and biogeochemical properties of the soil, through increased litter decomposition, soil mixing, and changing soil microbial and faunal communities. Thus, earthworms have strong effects on plant communities and ultimately ecosystem functioning. Though earthworms are widely present in most of Europe, northern regions of Scandinavia are still largely lacking burrowing earthworm species. The expansion of such species into northern forests is facilitated by both climate change and human influence and may have dramatic effects on the important carbon storage function of these soils. Indeed, recent results suggest that decomposition is stimulated largely if earthworms are added to northern soils, leading to strong increases in plant productivity, shifting plant community composition, and changing carbon and nitrogen cycling.

This project is led by Camille D’Hervilly, who aims to understand and quantify the impacts of burrowing earthworm expansion on soil food webs and carbon stores in Sweden’s northern forests, and how these changes feedback onto ecosystem processes.

The importance of deep roots in the carbon-climate feedback from thawing permafrost soils

Around 80% of plant biomass in arctic tundra is belowground and roots are transporting carbon taken up by leaves into the soil. This carbon can increase soil carbon storage, but it can also stimulate releases of millennia-old soil carbon to the atmosphere. Here, deep roots may be particularly important as they interact with newly-thawed permafrost soils, which had been cut off plant influences since thousands of years. Yet, few arctic studies include root measurements, let alone in deeper soils, because they are hidden from view and difficult to study.

This study is led by PhD student Vanessa Götz, who aims to quantify root responses to thawing permafrost and warming in arctic Alaska.