Reiner Giesler
(Professor)

Climate Impacts Research Centre
Department of Ecology and Environmental Sciences

Research Summary

My research focuses on biogeochemical processes in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems with special emphasis climate change effects in arctic and boreal environments. We integrate spatial and temporal variation in stream and soil biogeochemical processes across natural climate gradients to generate knowledge that can be used to better understand how ecosystems will respond to climate change. A major research focus in recent years has been on tundra streams, with the aim of understanding and quantifying different processes involved carbon cycling and CO₂ emissions. A special interest in this context is the influence of weathering as a source of dissolved inorganic carbon in high-latitude streams. Part of my research also focuses on phosphorus (P) dynamics across boreal and arctic landscape gradients with emphasis on organic phosphorus. Specifically, I am interested in how P availability may change with the on-going climate induced changes in tundra landscapes. Current and past research has involved both experimental laboratory studies, as well as broader scale studies at the ecosystem level that aim to better understand the biogeochemistry of boreal and arctic landscapes.

Current Projects

Our Projects

The invisible carbon: an early indication of ecosystem change!

Streams are sensitive sentinels for environmental change by their integration of processes in terrestrial and aquatic systems. Upland headwater streams in the north Swedish tundra show seasonally exceptional high concentrations of uncolored dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and high carbon dioxide concentrations.

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Tundra P - Phosphorus transformation across Pan-Arctic tundra ecosystems

Phosphorus (P) constrains the activity of plants and decomposers, and therefore carbon storage in many arctic ecosystems, yet our understanding of P availability in the tundra lags behind understanding of the carbon and nitrogen cycles.

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Phosphorus efficient agriculture with arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element for all living organisms, and without P we cannot produce food. Most P that is used in agriculture comes from mines in Northern Africa, which are about to be depleted.

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Nutrient availability along two arctic successional gradients

Understanding how plant succession is influenced by climate warming is a key issue for understanding how arctic landscapes will change in the future. At high latitudes, low temperature drives disturbance and the consequent primary succession (e.g., cryoturbation, glacier advance and retreat).

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