Plants-Soils-Ecosystems and Climate Change Ecology present a joint conference: ‘Ecosystems and Climate Change Mitigation’, to be held on 2-3 November 2015 at Charles Darwin House, London. The conference will include a mix of invited talks, contributed talks, and posters.
Registration and abstract submission are now open!
Registration link: http://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ecosystems-and-climate-change-mitigation-conference-tickets-18034748418?aff=es2
Abstract submission: submit your 100-word abstract for a poster or a talk to ccpsesigmeeting@gmail.com, before September the 25th.
Venue and travel info
Map:
http://www.charlesdarwinhouse.co.uk/Location/CDHmap.aspx
Travel:
http://www.charlesdarwinhouse.co.uk/Location/Travelinformation.aspx
Accommodation:
http://www.charlesdarwinhouse.co.uk/GreatHotelOffers.aspx
Outline
The biosphere stores and sequesters carbon, thereby exerting a major influence on the global carbon cycle and climate, and can also release other greenhouse gases such as methane and nitrous oxide. Ecosystems can simultaneously be a source and a sink of greenhouse gases. Approximately 30% of cumulative anthropogenic carbon emissions have been taken up by natural terrestrial ecosystems and a similar amount by the ocean. Today about a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions come from deforestation, agricultural emissions from soil and nutrient management and livestock. Changing the way we manage the land is an important component of climate change mitigation (intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases; IPCC 2015). There is however a risk that future climate change and other pressures will reduce the strength of the global carbon sink.
This conference aims to address the ecological science issues that are fundamental to climate change mitigation and the global carbon cycle. It will seek to inform debates about policy and practice for climate change and land management, and will explicitly focus on bridging the gap between science and practice. The conference will bring together researchers, practitioners and policy makers and provide opportunities for networking and developing new research ideas.
Confirmed speakers include: Gail Taylor (Southampton University), Sue Hartley (University of York), Doug Warner (University of Hertfordshire), Sue Ward (Lancaster University), Emma Sayer (Lancaster University), Iain Hartley (University of Exeter), Phil Wookey (Heriot-Watt University).
The conference will be covered on social media using the hashtag #ecomit15.
Dowload the flyer.
Programme
Outline Programme
2 November – morning: introduction and overview
10.00 onwards Registration, coffee, put up posters
11.00 Introduction and Welcome – Mike Morecroft (Natural England)
11.10 Role of ecosystems in the carbon cycle – Philip Wookey (Herriot Watt University)
11.45 Opportunities for environmental management, the role of biofuels – Gail Taylor (University of Southampton)
12.20 lunch + posters
2 November – afternoon: Key habitats
13.45 Forests – Mark Broadmeadow (Forestry Commission)
14.10 Forests – Alan Jones (Earthwatch Institute and Oxford University)
14.35 Forest discussion
14.45 Peatlands – Sue Ward (University of Lancaster) – Peatlands and Climate Change: vegetation matters
15.10 Peatlands – John Walker — Moors for the Future
– Sarah McCormack – Cumbrian Bogs LIFE+ Lowland Raised Bogs restoration project
15.35 Peatland discussion
15.45 Tea
16.05 Grasslands – Emma Sayer (University of Lancaster)
16.30 Agricultural systems – Doug Warner (University of Hertfordshire)
16.55 Agricultural Systems – Ceris Jones and Martin Rogers (National Farmers Union)
17.20 Agriculture and grasslands – discussion
17.30 Finish
18.30 Conference Dinner – at Kitchin N1, Caledonia St.
20.00 Drinks at King Charles I, Northdown St.
3 November – morning: Ecosystem and ecophysiological processes
09.00 Poster Session with Coffee and pastries
10.00 Iain Hartley (University of Exeter) Soil carbon storage in a warming world
1025 Andrew Cole (CEH) – Climatic and nutrient availability controls on carbon use efficiency in UK grasslands
1040 Nicolas Gurkin – Tropical Forest Methane Emissions: Root Regulation of Soil Processes and Fluxes
1055 Benita Laird-Hopkins – Tree and invertebrate functional diversity influence decomposition processes in tropical forests
1115 Carly Phillips and Nina Wurzburger – Biogeochemical consequences of arctic shrub expansion
1130 Angela L. Straathof, Howbeer Muhamad Ali, Roy Goodacre, Graham Fox, Franciska T. de Vries – Drought and warming-driven changes to root exudates profiles may shift soil microbial processes
1145 Jeanette Whitaker, Andrew Nottingham, Nick Ostle, Niall McNamara, Richard Bardgett and Patrick Meir – Indirect effects of climate change on soil carbon cycling in the Peruvian Andes
1200 Discussion
1215 lunch
3 November – Afternoon: Synthesis
13.45 Andreas Heinemeyer (University of York), Graeme Swindles (Leeds University), Matthew Carroll (RSPB), Phoebe Morton (SEI-Y) – From bog to bug to bird – linking peatlands past, present and future carbon dynamics to management, climate change and ecosystems services
14.10 Chris Evans (CEH Bangor) – TBC
14.35 Opportunities and challenges for ecologists – Sue Hartley (University of York)
15.00 Concluding remarks – Franciska de Vries (University of Manchester)
15.15 finish
