Overview
Since starting my role in 2019, I have provided research development and management support to academics and fellowship candidates, supporting the development of research proposals and budgets to a range of funders and schemes. I work in the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences team, supporting the Living Systems Institute and MRC Centre for Medical Mycology.
I have held multiple roles supporting the Research Services directorate more broadly. I was a member of the UKRI Covid Allocation (CoA) funding sub-panel (2020/21), interim Exeter Research Networks Facilitation Manager (2021), provided secretariat support to the Major Funders Strategy Group (2021/22) and was RS lead to the Global Systems Institute (2022). I was a member of the Association for Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA) in 2021/22.
Previously, I was a Research Fellow in Geography since 2010, where I undertook research on peatland ecosystems, both their use as an archive of information on past climate and environmental change and in terms of their carbon storage capacity, undertaking research in both polar regions and between. My publication record is here.
Qualifications
PhD peatland palaeoclimate, University of Southampton, 2008
MSc Wetland Archaeology and Environments, University of Exeter, 2004
BSc (Hons) Geography, University of Plymouth, 2000
Publications
Key publications | Publications by category | Publications by year
Publications by category
Journal articles
Piilo SR, Väliranta MM, Amesbury MJ, Aquino-López MA, Charman DJ, Gallego-Sala A, Garneau M, Koroleva N, Kärppä M, Laine AM, et al (2023). Consistent centennial-scale change in European sub-Arctic peatland vegetation toward Sphagnum dominance-Implications for carbon sink capacity.
Glob Chang Biol,
29(6), 1530-1544.
Abstract:
Consistent centennial-scale change in European sub-Arctic peatland vegetation toward Sphagnum dominance-Implications for carbon sink capacity.
Climate warming is leading to permafrost thaw in northern peatlands, and current predictions suggest that thawing will drive greater surface wetness and an increase in methane emissions. Hydrology largely drives peatland vegetation composition, which is a key element in peatland functioning and thus in carbon dynamics. These processes are expected to change. Peatland carbon accumulation is determined by the balance between plant production and peat decomposition. But both processes are expected to accelerate in northern peatlands due to warming, leading to uncertainty in future peatland carbon budgets. Here, we compile a dataset of vegetation changes and apparent carbon accumulation data reconstructed from 33 peat cores collected from 16 sub-arctic peatlands in Fennoscandia and European Russia. The data cover the past two millennia that has undergone prominent changes in climate and a notable increase in annual temperatures toward present times. We show a pattern where European sub-Arctic peatland microhabitats have undergone a habitat change where currently drier habitats dominated by Sphagnum mosses replaced wetter sedge-dominated vegetation and these new habitats have remained relatively stable over the recent decades. Our results suggest an alternative future pathway where sub-arctic peatlands may at least partly sustain dry vegetation and enhance the carbon sink capacity of northern peatlands.
Abstract.
Author URL.
Publications by year
2023
Piilo SR, Väliranta MM, Amesbury MJ, Aquino-López MA, Charman DJ, Gallego-Sala A, Garneau M, Koroleva N, Kärppä M, Laine AM, et al (2023). Consistent centennial-scale change in European sub-Arctic peatland vegetation toward Sphagnum dominance-Implications for carbon sink capacity.
Glob Chang Biol,
29(6), 1530-1544.
Abstract:
Consistent centennial-scale change in European sub-Arctic peatland vegetation toward Sphagnum dominance-Implications for carbon sink capacity.
Climate warming is leading to permafrost thaw in northern peatlands, and current predictions suggest that thawing will drive greater surface wetness and an increase in methane emissions. Hydrology largely drives peatland vegetation composition, which is a key element in peatland functioning and thus in carbon dynamics. These processes are expected to change. Peatland carbon accumulation is determined by the balance between plant production and peat decomposition. But both processes are expected to accelerate in northern peatlands due to warming, leading to uncertainty in future peatland carbon budgets. Here, we compile a dataset of vegetation changes and apparent carbon accumulation data reconstructed from 33 peat cores collected from 16 sub-arctic peatlands in Fennoscandia and European Russia. The data cover the past two millennia that has undergone prominent changes in climate and a notable increase in annual temperatures toward present times. We show a pattern where European sub-Arctic peatland microhabitats have undergone a habitat change where currently drier habitats dominated by Sphagnum mosses replaced wetter sedge-dominated vegetation and these new habitats have remained relatively stable over the recent decades. Our results suggest an alternative future pathway where sub-arctic peatlands may at least partly sustain dry vegetation and enhance the carbon sink capacity of northern peatlands.
Abstract.
Author URL.
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