Methane Oxidation in Thawing Permafrost Peatlands
I use incubations, stable isotopes, and meta-omics sequencing to characterize how permafrost thaw impacts methane oxidation in Stordalen Mire, a rapidly thawing permafrost peatlands.
Check out my 2020 paper in JGR Biogeosciences on the impact of changing redox conditions on methane oxidation potential.
Impact of Microtopography on Belowground Methane Cycling
Across peatlands, there are strong differences in the magnitude of methane emissions from microforms with varying water table level and vegetation. Variation in belowground methane turnover across microforms is less clearly resolved. I synthesized 16S rRNA sequence data, incubations, and porewater methane isotopes to better characterize methane cycling across microforms in a northern temperate peatland.
Read about this project in JGR Biogeosciences!
Using Stable Isotopes to Assess the Impact of Changing Precipitation on Methane Cycling
As the climate warms, drought and extreme precipitation are projected to become more common across the northern latitudes where peatlands are prevalent. I collected a large dataset of the isotope composition of emitted methane and methane dissolved in peat porewater across two growing seasons characterized by severe drought and record rainfall to assess the impact of changing precipitation on peatland methane cycling and emission.
Clarice R. Perryman 