The research group focuses on interactions between hydrological processes and elemental cycling and transformations in wetlands and surface waters. To this end we quantify elemental fluxes and identify and characterize biogeochemical and geochemical processes with chemical-analytical techniques. Mathematical Simulation models and statistical tools are applied in a supportive way to characterize system dynamics and to analyze the interaction of physical, chemical and biological processes. The derived knowledge is used to elucidate the effect of environmental change on wetlands and surface waters on different spatial and temporal scales.
Currently we investigate
- the impact of drought, flooding and water transport on carbon, sulphur and iron transformations and carbon fluxes in Canadian and German peatlands
- the effects of long-term nitrogen deposition and raised temperatures on the sequestration and mobility of carbon and nitrogen in European peatlands
- the impact of groundwater inflow on biogeochemical processes and the surface water quality of acidic mine lakes in Eastern Germany
- carbon sequestration and the physical and chemical controls on this process in Canadian lakes, such as Lake Simcoe (Ontario)
- the role of redox transformations of humic substances for anaerobic electron flow and trace gas emissions in peatlands
News.....
Impact of long-term hydrologic change on carbon sequestration and methane release in northern peatlands
[02.05.2013] The German Science Foundation supports a research project of the Hydrology Group (Christian Blodau) for a duration of three years. Climate models predict substantially wetter winters and drier summers in wide areas of the northern temperate and boreal zone, entailing a stronger hydrologic dynamics in peatlands. As a consequence changes in vegetation communities, water and carbon cycle are expected and may cause a positive feedback on climate change. In the project we will investigate a peatland in Ontario that has undergone 60-year wetting by establishment of a reservoir and study the effects of a winter-wetter and summer-drier climatic scenario. The carbon cycle will be quantified and the controls on the gas exchange be identified using a range of techniques including stable isotope analyses. We plan to use the acquired knowledge to further develop a simulation model of coupled water and carbon cycling in peatlands (PEATBOG).
Job offer....
Ph.D. research assistantship
Hydrogeochemical controls on carbon sequestration and methanogenesis in wetland soils
[14.03.2013] The University of Münster, Germany, invites applications for a Ph.D. position in the recently formed hydrology/biogeochemistry group of Prof. Christian Blodau at the Institute of Landscape Ecology (ILÖK). Job advertisement....
Vacancy: Position in carbon and nutrient dynamics in South Patagonian bogs
[18.03.2013] At the Institute of Landscape Ecology the Working Groups Ecosystem Research and Hydrology are seeking for a project scientist to investigate carbon and nutrient dynamics in South Patagonian bog ecosystems. Further information can be found in the job advertisement...
Regulation of carbon sequestration and methane release in peat soils
[08.01.2013] The German Science Foundation supports a research project of the Hydrology Group (Christian Blodau) for a duration of three years. Within the project, which covers both hydrological and biogeochemical aspects, it will be tested to what extent gas and water transport control the mineralisation of organic substance and the release of methane from peat soils. The relation will be causally and mechanistically analyzed using both stable isotope and thermodynamic approaches. It is planned to use the acquired knowledge to further develop simulation models of coupled water and carbon cycling in peatlands.
Science at the end of the world
[20.12.2012] The German Research Foundation will fund a 3-year joint on south hemispheric peat bog ecosystems in Tierra del Fuego. The partners are the Working Groups Ecosystem Research (Till Kleinebecker) and Hydrology (Christian Blodau) of the Institute of Landscape Ecology and the Research Group Regional Hydrology (Lars Kutzbach) of Hamburg University. In the interdisciplinary project we will focus on carbon, water and nutrient dynamics of vascular plant- vs. Sphagnum-dominated bogs. In order to do this, we will utilize a broad range of approaches and methods which include gas flux measurements, peat core dating and measurements of the photosynthetic activity as well as field and laboratory experiments.