Dr. Sarah Finkelstein will discuss peatland development and carbon dynamics in Hudson Bay Lowlands over the Holocene and the last glacial cycle.
Peatlands
play
an
important
role
in
the
global
carbon
cycle,
both
through
the
uptake
of
carbon
to
form
extensive
carbon
pools,
and
through
their
role
as
the
largest
natural
source
of
methane
to
the
atmosphere.
The
development
of
carbon
pools
takes
place
over
millennia,
thus
paleoecological
approaches
are
used
to
elucidate
the
factors
that
strengthen
or
weaken
the
rate
of
carbon
burial.
Ontario
is
home
to
the
largest
wetland
complex
in
Canada,
the
Hudson
Bay
Lowlands.
This
region
has
accumulated
a
pool
of
>30Gt
of
carbon
over
the
Holocene.
I
will
discuss
our
group’s
research
on
long-
term
changes
in
the
rates
of
carbon
uptake
and
release,
in
relation
to
glacial
isostatic
adjustment,
paleoclimatic
change
and
changes
in
the
vegetation
types
making
up
the
peat.
I
will
also
discuss
how
this
research
contributes
to
major
open
questions
in
paleo-biogeosciences
on
the
role
of
wetland
soils
in
resolving
the
carbon
budget
over
the
last
glacial
cycle.
Bio
Sarah Finkelstein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto in Toronto. Dr Finkelstein obtained an undergraduate degree in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University, a Masters degree in Plant Sciences at the University of Cambridge and a PhD in Geography at University of Toronto, working on Holocene development of coastal wetlands in the Lower Great Lakes. She completed an NSERC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at University of Ottawa in Arctic paleoclimatology, prior to her appointment to the UofT Faculty in 2006. Sarah’s research interests include Quaternary science, paleoclimate and paleoecology, wetlands and the carbon cycle, palynology and microfossil proxies for paleoenvironmental reconstruction.
WHEN
March 6, 2020
11:00 a.m.
WHERE
University of Waterloo
EIT 1015
FREE ADMISSION ~ REFRESHMENTS