From the Field • Climate Research in Siberia

Siberia as a region is unusually rich in forest resources and very sensitive to climate change. It is also home to large swaths of permafrost, a permanently frozen layer below Earth’s surface. Over the past hundred years, the average annual air temperature has increased by 0.9°C in Russia compared to the average 0.6 °C increase globally. According to the international scientific community, the temperature will continue to rise. Several studies predicted the important role of the northern forests and peatlands as an additional source of atmospheric CO₂. This talk will focus on a climate study conducted in the Krasnoyarsk region, Russia (60° 48’ N, 89° 22’ E) near the international research station – ZOTTO (http://www.zottoproject.org). The study measured the volume and acceleration of  CO₂ emission from the boreal forest ecosystems caused by climate change, human activity, and wildfires.

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Anastasia Makhnykina is a researcher in the laboratory of experimental and applied ecology at the V.N. Sukachev Institute of Forest in Krasnoyarsk, Russia. She is currently a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Arizona at Tucson. Her research focuses on carbon cycle in the boreal ecosystems, mainly on the CO₂ efflux from the soil (soil respiration) for the natural and disturbed forested areas, the relationship between CO₂ emission, climate factors, and human activity. She is the recipient of several prestigious fellowships, including those from the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Erasmus Mundus (ERANET Plus).