Professor Iain Hartley

About me:

Iain Hartley's research focuses on the responses of terrestrial ecosystems to global change. He has worked in a wide range of ecosystems, from Arctic tundra to tropical rainforests. In particular, his research interests include: 1) determining the effects of permafrost thaw on greenhouse gas emissions from high-latitude ecosystems; 2) investigating the extent to which tropical forest productivity is limited by nutrient availability versus atmospheric CO2 concentrations; 3) quantifying the effects of global warming on soil and ecosystem carbon storage. Iain's research has been funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), and he sits on the scientific steering committte of the AmazonFACE project, which will be the first experiment to expose a mature rainforest canopy to elevated CO2. He also currently serves on the NERC Radiocarbon Facility steering committee.

Broad research specialisms:

Carbon cycle feedbacks to global change, impacts of warming on soil carbon dynamics, links between carbon and nutrient cycling, permafrost carbon dynamics, elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations, methane fluxes, managing the terrestrial carbon cycle.

Interests:

The main focus of my research is on improving understanding of how the terrestrial biosphere will respond to global change, and what the implications will be for future rates of climate change.

I am primarily an experimental ecologist, using manipulations to quantify ecosystem responses to key drivers, but also make use of natural gradients and natural disturbances to test hypotheses related to global change. My research combines controlled laboratory experiments with field measurements in ecosystems as diverse as Arctic tundra and Amazon rainforest. I make extensive use of stable and radiocarbon isotopes to compliment measurements of fluxes (CO2, CH4) and stores of carbon in different ecosystems. My work is highly collaborative with ongoing projects involving hydrologists, plant physiologists, microbiologists, remote sensors, and soil scientists, as well as ecosystem and Earth system modellers.

Current projects include: 1) investigating how soil microbial community responses may modify the effects of temperature on decomposition rates in soils; 2) determining the role of plant biodiversity and fire disturbance in controlling the rates, and implications, of permafrost thaw in contrasting ecosystems in northern Canada; 3) quantifying the role of nutrient availability in controlling the productivity of Amazon forests; 4) investigating the potential effects of atmospheric CO2 concentration on C uptake in rainforests.

Specific research areas:
1. Effects of temperature on decomposition rates in soils
2. Elevated CO2 effects on plant productivity and ecosystem C storage
3. Plant-soil interactions and nutrient-cycle influences on carbon-cycle feedbacks
4. Permafrost carbon dynamics
5. Methane fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems
6. Soil microbial community responses to global change
7. The use of radiocarbon in carbon cycle research

Qualifications:

BSc Environmental Biology (University of St Andrews),
MRes Ecology and Environmental Biology (University of York),
PhD “The response of soil respiration to temperature” (University of York)