Dr. Matthew Saunders

• Saunders M, Tobin B, Sweeney C, Gioria M, Benanti G, Cacciotti E, Osborne B.A, Impacts of exceptional and extreme inter-annual climatic events on the net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange of a sitka spruce forest, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 184, 2014, p147 - 157Journal Article, 2014, DOI , URL
• Benanti G, Saunders M, Tobin B, Osborne B, Contrasting impacts of afforestation on nitrous oxide and methane emissions, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 198-199, 2014, p82 - 93Journal Article, 2014, DOI , URL
• Saunders M.J, Kansiime F, Jones M.B, Reviewing the carbon cycle dynamics and carbon sequestration potential of Cyperus papyrus L. wetlands in tropical Africa, Wetlands Ecology and Management, 22, (2), 2014, p143 - 155Journal Article, 2014, DOI , URL
• Artz R.R.E, Chapman S.J, Saunders M, Evans C.D, Matthews R.B, Comment on "soil CO2, CH4 and N2O fluxes from an afforested lowland raised peat bog in Scotland: Implications for drainage and restoration" by Yamulki et al. (2013), Biogeosciences, 10, (11), 2013, p7623 - 7630Journal Article, 2013, DOI , URL
• Stoy P.C, Mauder M, Foken T, Marcolla B, Boegh E, Ibrom A, Arain M.A, Arneth A, Aurela M, Bernhofer C, Cescatti A, Dellwik E, Duce P, Gianelle D, van Gorsel E, Kiely G, Knohl A, Margolis H, Mccaughey H, Merbold L, Montagnani L, Papale D, Reichstein M, Saunders M, Serrano-Ortiz P, Sottocornola M, Spano D, Vaccari F, Varlagin A, A data-driven analysis of energy balance closure across FLUXNET research sites: The role of landscape scale heterogeneity, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 171-172, 2013, p137 - 152Journal Article, 2013, DOI , URL
• Saunders M, Tobin B, Black K, Gioria M, Nieuwenhuis M, Osborne B.A, Thinning effects on the net ecosystem carbon exchange of a Sitka spruce forest are temperature-dependent, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 157, 2012, p1 - 10Journal Article, 2012, DOI , URL
• Olajuyigbe S, Tobin B, Saunders M, Nieuwenhuis M, Forest thinning and soil respiration in a Sitka spruce forest in Ireland, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 157, 2012, p86 - 95Journal Article, 2012, DOI , URL
• Nicolau M, Saunders M, O'Neill M, Osborne B, Brabazon A, Evolving interpolating models of net ecosystem CO 2 exchange using grammatical evolution, 2012, -Miscellaneous, 2012, DOI , URL
• Walmsley D.C, Siemens J, Kindler R, Kirwan L, Kaiser K, Saunders M, Kaupenjohann M, Osborne B.A, Dissolved carbon leaching from an Irish cropland soil is increased by reduced tillage and cover cropping, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 142, (3-4), 2011, p393 - 402Journal Article, 2011, DOI , URL
• Eugster W, Moffat A.M, Ceschia E, Aubinet M, Ammann C, Osborne B, Davis P.A, Smith P, Jacobs C, Moors E, Le Dantec V, Béziat P, Saunders M, Jans W, Grünwald T, Rebmann C, Kutsch W.L, Czerný R, Janou- D, Moureaux C, Dufranne D, Carrara A, Magliulo V, Di Tommasi P, Olesen J.E, Schelde K, Olioso A, Bernhofer C, Cellier P, Larmanou E, Loubet B, Wattenbach M, Marloie O, Sanz M.-J, Søgaard H, Buchmann N, Management effects on European cropland respiration, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 139, (3), 2010, p346 - 362Journal Article, 2010, DOI , URL
• Moors E.J, Jacobs C, Jans W, Supit I, Kutsch W.L, Bernhofer C, Béziat P, Buchmann N, Carrara A, Ceschia E, Elbers J, Eugster W, Kruijt B, Loubet B, Magliulo E, Moureaux C, Olioso A, Saunders M, Soegaard H, Variability in carbon exchange of European croplands, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 139, (3), 2010, p325 - 335Journal Article, 2010, DOI , URL
• Luyssaert S, Reichstein M, Schulze E.-D, Janssens I.A, Law B.E, Papale D, Dragoni D, Goulden M.L, Granier A, Kutsch W.L, Linder S, Matteucci G, Moors E, Munger J.W, Pilegaard K, Saunders M, Falge E.M, Toward a consistency cross-check of eddy covariance flux-based and biometric estimates of ecosystem carbon balance, Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 23, (3), 2009Journal Article, 2009, DOI , URL
• Kansiime F., Saunders M., Loiselle S., Functioning and dynamics of wetland vegetation of Lake Victoria: An overview, Wetlands Ecology and Management, 15, (6), 2007, p443-451Journal Article, 2007, DOI
• Saunders, M., Perks, M., Slee, B., Ray, D., Matthews, R., Can silvo-pastoral systems contribute to Scotland's emission reduction targets? Policy briefing to the Scottish Government., Scotland., CimateXChange, 2014Report, 2014
• Matthews, R., Smith, P., Smith, J., Ray, D., Perks, M., Slee, B., Saunders, M., The role of woodlands in meeting Scotland's greenhouse gas emission targets. In: Iason, G (Ed). Biodiversity in Woodland Ecosystems, The James Hutton Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen, 2014, 24Report, 2014
• Artz, R., Saunders, M., Yeluripati, J., Potts, J., Elston, D., Chapman, S, An assessment of the proposed IPCC 2013 supplement to the 2006 guidelines: wetlands for the use of GHG accounting in Scottish peatlands., 2014Report, 2014
• Jones, M., Osborne, B., Williams, M., Saunders, M., Burke, J., Davis, P., Abdalla, M., Clifton-Brown, J., Connolly, J., Kumar, S., Nagy, M., Accounting for greenhouse gas sources and sinks in major Irish land-use categories: towards the establishment of a Co-ordinating Centre for FLUX measurements (CCFLUX), EPA Ireland STRIVE report series, EPA, 2010Report, 2010
• Michael B Jones, Frank Kansiime, Matthew J Saunders, The potential use of papyrus (Cyperus papyrus L.) wetlands as a source of biomass energy for sub-Saharan Africa, Global Change Biology Bioenergy, 2016, pdoi: 10.1111/gcbb.12392Journal Article, 2016, TARA - Full Text
• Nemo, R., Klumpp, K., Coleman, K., Dondini, M., Goulding, K., Hastings, A., Jones, MB., Leifeld, J., Osborne, B., Saunders, M., Scot, T., Teh, YA., Soil Organic Carbon (SOC) Equilibrium and Model Initialisation Methods: an Application to the Rothamsted Carbon (RothC) Model, Environmental Modeling and Assessment, 22, 2017, p215 - 229Journal Article, 2017, DOI , URL
• Susan Waldron, Jagadeesh Yeluripati, Matthew Saunders, Anna Conniff, Steve Chapman, Dave Miller, Robin Matthews, Jo Smith, Sarah Govan, The Peatland Carbon Calculator Its use and future potential, ClimateXChange, 2015Report, 2015, URL
• Cerutti, PO., Sola, P., Chenevoy, A., Liyama, M., Yila, J., Zhou, W., Djoudi, H., Atyi, RA., Gautier, D., Gumbo, D., Kuehl, Y., Levang, P., Martius, C., Matthews, R., Nasi, R., Neufeldt, H., Njenga, M., Petrokofsky, G., Saunders, M., Sheperd, G., Sonwa, D., Sundberg, C., van Noordwijk, M., The socioeconomic and environmental impacts of wood energy chains in Sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic map protocol., Environmental Evidence, 4, (12), 2015, p1 - 7Journal Article, 2015, DOI , TARA - Full Text
• Chiwara, P., Ogutu, B.O., Dash. J., Milton, E.J., Ardo, J., Saunders, M., Nicolini, G., Estimating terrestrial gross primary productivity in water limited ecosystems across Africa using the Southampton Carbon Flux (SCARF) model, Science of the Total Environment, 630, 2018, p1472 - 1483Journal Article, 2018
• David C. Walmsley, Jan Siemens, Reimo Kindler, Klaus Kaiser, Matthew Saunders, Andreas Fichtner, Martin Kaupenjohann, Bruce A. Osborne, Reduced nitrate leaching from an Irish cropland soil under non-inversion tillage with cover cropping greatly outweighs increased dissolved organic nitrogen leaching, Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 265, 2018, p340 - 349Journal Article, 2018
• Ana López-Ballesteros, Johannes Beck, Antonio Bombelli, Elisa Grieco, Eli ka Krko ka Lorencová, Lutz Merbold, Christian Brümmer, Wim Hugo, Robert Scholes, David Vačkář, Alex Vermeulen, Manuel Acosta, Klaus Butterbach-Bahl, Jörg Helmschrot, Dong-Gill Kim, Michael Jones, Veronika Jorch, Marian Pavelka, Ingunn Skjelvan and Matthew Saunders, Towards a feasible and representative pan-African research infrastructure network for GHG observations, Environmental Research Letters, 13, (8), 2018, p1-15Journal Article, 2018, URL , TARA - Full Text
• Saunders, M., Dengel, S., Kolari, P., Moureaux, C., Montagnani, L., Ceschia, E., Altimir, N., López-Ballesteros, A., Marańon-Jimenez, S., Acosta, M., Klumpp, K., Gielen, B., de Beeck, M., Hörtnagl, L., Merbold, L., Osborne, B., Grünwald, T., Arrouays, D., Boukir, H., Saby, N., Nicolini, G., Papale, D., Jones, M., Importance of reporting ancillary site characteristics, and management and disturbance information at ICOS stations., International Agrophysics, 2018, p457 - 469Journal Article, 2018, DOI , TARA - Full Text
• Franz, D., Acosta, M., Altimir, N., Arriga, N., Arrouays, D., Aubinet, M., Aurela, M., Ayres, E., López-Ballesteros, A., Barbaste, M., Berveiller, D., Biraud, S., Boukir, H., Brown, T., Brümmer, C., Buchmann, N., Burba, G., Carrara, A., Cescatti, A., Ceschia, E., Clement, R., Cremonese, E., Crill, P., Darenova, E., Dengel, S., D'Odorico, P., Filippa, G., Fleck, S., Fratini, G., Fuß, R., Gielen, B., Gogo, S., Grace, J., Graf, A., Grelle, A., Gross, P., Grünwald, T., Haapanala, S., Hehn, M., Heinesch, B., Heiskanen, J., Herbst, M., Herschlein, C., Hörtnagl, L., Hufkens, K., Ibrom, A., Jolivet, C., Joly, L., Jones, M., Kiese, R., Klemedtsson, L., Kljun, N., Klumpp, K., Kolari, P., Kolle, O., Kowalski, A., Kutsch, W., Laurila, T., de Ligne, A., Linder, S., Lindroth, A., Lohila, A., Longdoz, B., Mammarella, I., Manise, T., Jiménez, S., Matteucci, G., Mauder, M., Meier, P., Merbold, L., Mereu, S., Metzger, S., Migliavacca, M., Mölder, M., Montagnani, L., Moureaux, C., Nelson, D., Nemitz, E., Nicolini, G., Nilsson, M. B., de Beeck, M., Osborne, B., Löfvenius, M., Pavelka, M., Peichl, M., Peltola, O., Pihlatie, M., Pitacco, A., Pokorný, R., Pumpanen, J., Ratié, C., Rebmann, C., Roland, M., Sabbatini, S., Saby, N..A., Saunders, M., Schmid, H., Schrumpf, M., Sedlák, P., Ortiz, P., Siebicke, L., igut, L., Silvennoinen, H., Simioni, G., Skiba, U., Sonnentag, O., Soudani, K., Soulé, P., Steinbrecher, R., Tallec, T., Thimonier, A., Tuittila, E., Tuovinen, J., Vestin, P., Vincent, G., Vincke, C., Vitale, D., Waldner, P., Weslien, P., Wingate, L., Wohlfahrt, G., Zahniser, M., & Vesala, T., Towards long-term standardised carbon and greenhouse gas observations for monitoring Europe's terrestrial ecosystems:a review., International Agrophysics, 32, 2018, p439 - 455Journal Article, 2018, DOI
• T R. Hodkinson, F. M. Doohan, M. J. Saunders and B. R. Murphy, Endophytes for a growing world. , Cambridge University Press, 2019, 1 - 420ppBook, 2019, URL
• Swenson M., Regan S., Bremmers D.T.H., Lawless J., Saunders M., Gill L.W., Carbon balance of a restored and cutover bog: implications for restoration and comparison to global trends, Biogeosciences, 16, 2019, p713 - 731Journal Article, 2019, DOI
• Johannes Beck, Ana Lopez-Ballesteros, Wim Hugo, Robert Scholes, Matthew Saunders and Jorg Helmschrot. , Development of a Climate Forcing Observation System for Africa: Data-Related Considerations, Data Science Journal, 18, 2019, p1 - 11Journal Article, 2019, TARA - Full Text
• K.J. Lees, T. Quaife, R.R.E. Artz, M. Khomik, M. Sottocornola, G. Kiely, G. Hambley, T. Hill, M. Saunders, N.R. Cowie, J. Ritson, J.M. Clark. , A model of gross primary productivity based on satellite data suggests formerly afforested peatlands undergoing restoration regain full photosynthetic capacity after five to ten years. , Journal of Environmental Management, 326, 2019, p594 - 604Journal Article, 2019
• G. Hambley, R. Andersen, P. Levy, M. Saunders, N.R. Cowie, Y.A. Teh and T.C. Hill. , Net ecosystem exchange from two formerly afforested peatlands undergoing restoration in the Flow Country of northern Scotland, Mires and Peat, 23, 2019, p1 - 14Journal Article, 2019
• Maarten Op de Beeck, Bert Gielen, Lutz Merbold, Edward Ayres, Penelope Serrano-Ortiz, Manuel Acosta, Marian Pavelka, Leonardo Montagnani, Mats Nilsson, Leif Klemedtsson, Caroline Vincke, Anne De Ligne, Christine Moureaux, Sara Marañon-Jimenez, Matthew Saunders, Simone Mereu, and Lukas Hörtnagl. , Soil-meteorological measurements at ICOS monitoring stations in terrestrial ecosystems. , International Agrophysics, 32, 2018, p619 - 631Journal Article, 2018
• Bert Gielen, Manuel Acosta, Nuria Altimir, Nina Buchmann, Alessandro Cescatti, Eric Ceschia, Stefan Fleck, Lukas Hörtnagl, Katja Klumpp, Pasi Kolari, Annalea Lohila, Denis Loustau, Sara Marañon-Jimenez, Tanguy Manise, Giorgio Matteucci, Lutz Merbold, Christine Metzger, Christine Moureaux, Leonardo Montagnani, Mats B. Nilsson, Bruce Osborne, Dario Papale, Marian Pavelka, Matthew Saunders, Guillaume Simioni, Kamel Soudani, Oliver Sonnentag, Tiphaine Tallec, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Matthias Peichl, Radek Pokorny, Caroline Vincke, and Georg Wohlfahrt. , Ancillary vegetation measurements at ICOS ecosystem stations. , International Agrophysics, 32, 2018, p645 - 664Journal Article, 2018
• Ingle R., Bhatnagar S., Ghosh B., Gill L.W., Saunders M., Estimation of Gross Primary Productivity of a raised bog ecosystem using satellite models and eddy covariance techniques under exceptional climatic conditions, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19th-13th April 2021, EGU21-13199, 2021Conference Paper, 2021, DOI
• Cox P., Gill L.W., Regan S., Saunders M., Quantifying fluvial carbon losses from lowland peatland ecosystems across a drainage-impact spectrum, EGU General Assembly 2021, online, 19th-13th April 2021, EGU21-15719, 2021Conference Paper, 2021, DOI
• Ruchita Ingle, Saheba Bhatnagar, Bidisha Ghosh, Laurence Gill, Shane Regan, John Connolly and Matthew Saunders, Development of Hybrid Models to Estimate Gross Primary Productivity at a Near-Natural Peatland Using Sentinel 2 Data and a Light Use Efficiency Model, Remote Sensing, 15, 2023, p1673-Journal Article, 2023, URL , TARA - Full Text
• Amey S. Tilak, Kenneth A. Byrne, A. Jonay Jovani-Sancho, Matthew Saunders, Seamus Hoyne, Quantifying moss moisture stresses in undrained, afforested and rewetted peatlands located in Republic of Ireland using laboratory measurements and computer modelling, Ecohydrology, 2022Journal Article, 2022
• Ruchita Ingle, Wahaj Habib, John Connolly, Mark McCorry, Stephen Barry & Matthew Saunders, Upscaling methane fluxes from peatlands across a drainage gradient in Ireland using PlanetScope imagery and machine learning tools., Nature Scientific Reports, 13, (11997), 2023Journal Article, 2023, DOI
• Klara Finkele, Tamara Hochstrasser, Paul N.C. Murphy, Eve Daly, Caren Jarmain, Karl Richards, Owen Fenton, Thomas Cummins, Matthew Saunders, Paul M. Johnston, Michael Bruen, Kenneth A. Byrne, Declan T. Delaney, Rowan Fealy, Stuart Green, Suzanne Higgins, Natalya Hunter Williams, Gary Lanigan, Tim McCarthy, Ted McCormack, Per-Erik Mellander, Oliver Nicholson, Ciaran Nugent, Fiachra O'Loughlin, Brian Tobin, Pat Tuohy, Rebecca Whetton, The new Irish Soil Moisture Observation Network – ISMON: an Umbrella for Integrating Several Recent Soil Moisture Measurements Initiatives, 2022Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• Ruchita Ingle, Matthew Saunders, Carbon and Greenhouse gas dynamics at an industrial cutaway peatland, 2022Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• Alina Premrov, Jesko Zimmermann, Marta Dondini, Stuart Green, Reamonn Fealy, Rowan Fealy, Marie-Laure Decau, Katja Klumpp, Gabriela Mihaela Afrasinei, Matthew Saunders, ECOSSE biogeochemical modelling of soil organic carbon from Irish grassland systems - challenges and opportunities, 2022Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• Alina Premrov, Matthew Saunders, Dara Stanley, Blanaid White, James C. Carolan, James Quirke, Mike Broderick, Kenneth Conroy, Jesko Zimmermann, Jane Stout, Insights into using HAIR2014 tool for estimating soil pesticide risks in Irish grasslands for selected herbicide active substances , 2022Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• Richa Marwaha, Matthew Saunders, Monitoring of rehabilitation of a raised bog in Ireland using a machine learning model, 2022Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• Marine Valmier, Matthew Saunders, Gary Lanigan, Warmer autumn temperatures triple carbon losses from an Irish grassland on drained organic soil, 2022Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• Tamara Hochstrasser, Caren Jarmain, Klara Finkele, Paul Murphy, Owen Fenton, Karl Richards, Eve Daly, Matthew Saunders, Thomas Cummins, Rebecca Whetton, Fiachra O'Loughlin, Towards establishing an Irish National Soil Moisture Monitoring Network, 2021Journal Article, 2021, DOI
• Matthew Saunders, Ruchita Ingle, Shane Regan, Assessing the impact of exceptional inter-annual climatic variability on rates of net ecosystem carbon dioxide exchange at Clara bog., 2021Journal Article, 2021, DOI
• Marine Valmier, Matthew Saunders, Gary Lanigan, Greenhouse gas budget of an extensively managed grassland on drained peat soil in the Irish Midlands, 2021Journal Article, 2021, DOI
• Alina Premrov, David Wilson, Matthew Saunders, Jagadeesh Yeluripati, Florence Renou-Wilson, Development of new drainage factor in ECOSSE model to improve water dynamics and prediction of CO2 fluxes from drained peatlands, 2021Journal Article, 2021, DOI
• Alina Premrov, Jesko Zimmermann, Marta Dondini, Marie-Laure Decau, Stuart Green, Reamonn Fealy, Rowan Fealy, Matthew Saunders, Insights into ECOSSE modelling of soil organic carbon at site scale from Irish grassland sites and a French grazed experimental plot, 2021Journal Article, 2021, DOI
• Rachael Murphy, Karl Richards, Dominika Krol, Amanuel Gebremichael, Luis Lopez-Sangil, James Rambaud, Nicholas Cowan, Gary Lanigan, Matt Saunders, Quantifying nitrous oxide emissions in space and time using static chambers and eddy covariance from a temperate grassland, 2021Journal Article, 2021, DOI
• Ana López-Ballesteros, Johannes Beck, Jörg Helmschrot, Matthew Saunders, Harmonised observations of climate forcing across Africa: an assessment of existing approaches and their applicability, Environmental Research Letters, 15, (7), 2020, p075003Journal Article, 2020, DOI
• Alina Premrov, David Wilson, Matthew Saunders, Jagadeesh Yeluripati, Florence Renou-Wilson, Insights into CO2 simulations from the Irish Blackwater peatland using ECOSSE model, 2020Journal Article, 2020, DOI
• Alina Premrov, Jesko Zimmermann, Stuart Green, Reamonn Fealy, Matthew Saunders, Insights into modelling of soil organic carbon from Irish grassland sites using ECOSSE model, 2020Journal Article, 2020, DOI
• Michael M. Swenson, Shane Regan, Dirk T. H. Bremmers, Jenna Lawless, Matthew Saunders, Laurence W. Gill, Supplementary material to "Carbon balance of a restored and cutover raised bog: Comparison to global trends", 2018Journal Article, 2018, DOI
• The 2018 European heatwave led to stem dehydration but not to consistent growth reductions in forests, Roberto L. Salomón 1,2,60, Richard L. Peters1,3,60, Roman Zweifel 3, Ute G. W. Sass-Klaassen 4", Annemiek I. Stegehuis 5,6, Marko Smiljanic 7, Rafael Poyatos 8,9, Flurin Babst10,11, Emil Cienciala 12,13, Patrick Fonti 3, Bas J. W. Lerink 14, Marcus Lindner 5, Jordi Martinez-Vilalta 8,9, Maurizio Mencuccini 8,15, Gert-Jan Nabuurs 4,14, Ernst van der Maaten 16, Georg von Arx 3, Andreas Bär 17, Linar Akhmetzyanov 4, Daniel Balanzategui18,19, Michal Bellan 13,20, Jörg Bendix21, Daniel Berveiller22, Miroslav Blaženec 23, Vojt"ch "ada 6, Vinicio Carraro24, Sébastien Cecchini25, Tommy Chan 26, Marco Conedera 27, Nicolas Delpierre 22, Sylvain Delzon 28, "ubica Ditmarová 23, Jiri Dolezal29,30, Eric Dufrêne22, Johannes Edvardsson 31, Stefan Ehekircher32, Alicia Forner 33,34, Jan Frouz35, Andrea Ganthaler 17, Vladimír Gryc 36, Aylin Güney 37,38, Ingo Heinrich 18,19,39, Rainer Hentschel 40, Pavel Janda6, Marek Ježík 23, Hans-Peter Kahle 41, Simon Knüsel 27, Jan Krejza 13,20, "ukasz Kuberski 42, Ji"í Ku"era43, François Lebourgeois 44, Martin Mikoláš6, Radim Matula 6, Stefan Mayr 44, Walter Oberhuber 44, Nikolaus Obojes 45, Bruce Osborne 46,47, Teemu Paljakka 26, Roman Plichta 48, Inken Rabbel 49, Cyrille B. K. Rathgeber 3,44, Yann Salmon 26,50, Matthew Saunders 51, Tobias Scharnweber 7, Zuzana Sitková 52, Dominik Florian Stangler 41, Krzysztof Stere"czak 53, Marko Stojanovi" 13, Katarína St"elcová 54, Jan Sv"tlík13,20, Miroslav Svoboda6, Brian Tobin 47,55, Volodymyr Trotsiuk3,6, Josef Urban 48,56, Fernando Valladares34, Hanuš Vavr"ík 36, Monika Vejpustková 57, Lorenz Walthert 3, Martin Wilmking 7, Ewa Zin42,58, Junliang Zou 59 & Kathy Steppe 1", Nature Communications, 2023, p1 - 11Journal Article, 2023
• Roberto Luis Salomón, Richard L. Peters, Roman Zweifel, Ute Sass-Klaassen, Annemiek I. Stegehuis, Marko Smiljanic, Rafael Poyatos, Flurin Babst, Emil Cienciala, Patrick Fonti, Bas Lerink, Marcus Lindner, Jordi Martinez-Vilalta, Maurizio Mencuccini, Gert-Jan Nabuurs, Ernst van der Maaten, Georg von Arx, Andreas Bär, Linar Akhmetzyanov, Daniel Balanzategui, Michal Bellan, Jörg Bendix, Daniel Berveiller, Miroslav Blazenec, Vojt"ch "ada, Vinicio Carraro, Sébastien Cecchini, Tommy Chan, Marco Conedera, Nicolas Delpierre, Sylvain Delzon, "UBICA DITMAROVÁ, Jiri Dolezal, Eric Dufrêne, Johannes Edvardsson, Stefan Ehekircher, ALICIA FORNER SALES, Jan Frouz, Andrea Ganthaler, Vladimír Gryc, Aylin Güney, Ingo Heinrich, Rainer Hentschel, Pavel Janda, Marek Ježík, Hans-Peter Kahle, Simon, Jan Krejza, "ukasz Kuberski, Ji"í Ku"era, François Lebourgeois, The 2018 European heatwave led to stem dehydration but not to consistent growth reductions in forests, Nature Communications, 13, (1), 2022Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• R.M. Murphy, K.G. Richards, D.J. Krol, A.W. Gebremichael, L. Lopez-Sangil, J. Rambaud, N. Cowan, G.J. Lanigan, M. Saunders, Assessing nitrous oxide emissions in time and space with minimal uncertainty using static chambers and eddy covariance from a temperate grassland, Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 313, 2022, p108743Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• Rachael M. Murphy, Matthew Saunders, Karl G. Richards, Dominika J. Krol, Amanuel W. Gebremichael, James Rambaud, Nicholas Cowan, Gary J. Lanigan, Nitrous oxide emission factors from an intensively grazed temperate grassland: A comparison of cumulative emissions determined by eddy covariance and static chamber methods, Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 324, 2022, p107725Journal Article, 2022, DOI
• Mingjuan Xie, Xiaofei Ma, Yuangang Wang, Chaofan Li, Haiyang Shi, Xiuliang Yuan, Olaf Hellwich, Chunbo Chen, Wenqiang Zhang, Chen Zhang, Qing Ling, Ruixiang Gao, Yu Zhang, Friday Uchenna Ochege, Amaury Frankl, Philippe De Maeyer, Nina Buchmann, Iris Feigenwinter, Jørgen E. Olesen, Radoslaw Juszczak, Adrien Jacotot, Aino Korrensalo, Andrea Pitacco, Andrej Varlagin, Ankit Shekhar, Annalea Lohila, Arnaud Carrara, Aurore Brut, Bart Kruijt, Benjamin Loubet, Bernard Heinesch, Bogdan Chojnicki, Carole Helfter, Caroline Vincke, Changliang Shao, Christian Bernhofer, Christian Brümmer, Christian Wille, Eeva-Stiina Tuittila, Eiko Nemitz, Franco Meggio, Gang Dong, Gary Lanigan, Georg Niedrist, Georg Wohlfahrt, Guoyi Zhou, Ignacio Goded, Thomas Gruenwald, Janusz Olejnik, Joachim Jansen, Johan Neirynck, Juha-Pekka Tuovinen, Junhui Zhang, Katja Klumpp, Kim Pilegaard, Ladislav Šigut, Leif Klemedtsson, Luca Tezza, Lukas Hörtnagl, Marek Urbaniak, Marilyn Roland, Marius Schmidt, Mark A. Sutton, Markus Hehn, Matthew Saunders, Matthias Mauder, Mika Aurela, Mika Korkiakoski, Mingyuan Du, Nadia Vendrame, Natalia Kowalska, Paul G. Leahy, Pavel Alekseychik, Peili Shi, Per Weslien, Shiping Chen, Silvano Fares, Thomas Friborg, Tiphaine Tallec, Tomomichi Kato, Torsten Sachs, Trofim Maximov, Umberto Morra di Cella, Uta Moderow, Yingnian Li, Yongtao He, Yoshiko Kosugi & Geping Luo., Monitoring of carbon-water fluxes at Eurasian meteorological stations using random forest and remote sensing, Nature Scientific Data, 2023Journal Article, 2023, URL
• Mathavan Vickneswaran, James C. Carolan, Matthew Saunders, Blánaid White, Establishing the extent of pesticide contamination in Irish agricultural soils, Heliyon, 2023Journal Article, 2023, URL
• Wahaj Habib, Ruchita Ingle, Matthew Saunders and John Connolly., Quantifying peatland land use and CO2 emissions in Irish raised bogs: mapping insights using Sentinel"2 data and Google Earth Engine, Nature Scientific Reports, 2024Journal Article, 2024, URL
• Matthew Saunders, Gabriela Mihaela Afrasinei, Jesko Zimmerman, Alina Premrov, Kevin Black and Stuart Green, Soil Organic Carbon and Land Use Mapping (SOLUM), 2022Report, 2022
• Tools for Wetland Ecosystem Resource Management in East Africa: Focus on the Lake Victoria Papyrus Wetlands. in, editor(s)J.T.A. Verhoeven, B. Beltman, R. Bobbink, and D.F. Whigham. , Wetlands and Natural Resource Management., Berlin, Springer, 2006, pp97 - 121, [Steven Loiselle, Andres Cozar, Anne van Dam, Frank Kansiime, Peter Kelderman, Matt Saunders and Silvio Simonit.]Book Chapter, 2006
• Saunders, M.J.,Jones, M.B. and Kansiime, F., Carbon and water cycles in tropical papyrus wetlands, Wetlands Ecology and Management, 15, 2007, p489 - 498Journal Article, 2007
• Albanito F., Saunders M. and Jones M.B., Automated diffusion chambers to monitor diurnal and seasonal dynamics of the soil CO2 concentration profile., European Jounal of Soil Science, 60, 2009, p507 - 514Journal Article, 2009
• Davis PA, Clifton Brown J, Saunders M, Lanigan G, Wright E, Fortune T, Burke J, Connolly J, Jones MB, Osborne B, Assessing the effects of agricultural management practices on carbon fluxes: Spatial variation and the need for replicated estimates of Net Ecosystem Exchange., Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 150, 2010, p564 - 574Journal Article, 2010
• Osborne, B., Saunders, M., Walmsley, D., Jones, M. and Smith, P., Key questions and uncertainties associated with the assessment of the cropland greenhouse gas balance., Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 139, 2010, p293 - 301Journal Article, 2010
• Smith, P., Lanigan, G., Kutsch, W. L., Buchmann, N., Eugster, W., Aubinet, M., Ceschia, E., Beziat, P., Yeluripati J. B., Osborne, B., Moors, E. J., Brut, A., Wattenbach, M., Saunders, M. and Jones, M., Measurements necessary for assessing the net ecosystem carbon budget of croplands., Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 139, 2010, p302 - 315Journal Article, 2010
• Kutsch, W, Aubinet, M, Buchman, N, Smith, P, Osborne, B, Eugster, W, Wattenbach, M, Schrumpf, M, Schulze, E-D, Tomelleri, E, Ceschia, E, Bernhofer, C, Beziat, P, Carrara, A, Di Tommasi, P, Grunwald, T, Jones, M, Magliulo, V, Marloie, O, Moureaux, C, Olioso, A, Sanz, M, Saunders, M, Sogaard, H and Ziegler, W, The net biome production of full crop rotations in Europe., Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 139, 2010, p336 - 345Journal Article, 2010
• Ceschia, E., Beziat, P., Dejoux, J. F., Aubinet, M., Berhofer, Ch., Bodson, B., Buchmann, N., Carrara, A., Cellier, P., Di Tommasi, P., Elbers, J. A., Eugster, W., Grunwald, T., Jacobs, C. M. J., Jans, W. W. P., Jones, M., Kutsch, W., Lanigan, G., Magliulo, E., Marloie, O., Moors, E., J., Moureaux, C., Olioso, A., Osborne, B., Sanz, M. J., Saunders, M., Smith, P., Soegaard, H. and Wattenbach, M. , Management effects on net ecosystem carbon and GHG budgets at European crop sites., Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 139, 2010, p363 - 383Journal Article, 2010
• Kindler, Reimo; Siemens, Jan; Kaiser, Klaus; Walmsley, David C.; Bernhofer, Christian; Buchmann, Nina; Cellier, Pierre; Eugster, Werner; Gleixner, Gerd; Grunwald, Thomas; Heim, Alexander; Ibrom, Andreas; Jones, Stephanie K.; Jones, Mike; Klumpp, Katja; Kutsch, Werner; Steenberg Larsen, Klaus; Lehuger, Simon; Loubet, Benjamin; McKenzie, Rebecca; Moors, Eddy; Osborne, Bruce; Pilegaard, Kim; Rebmann, Corinna; Saunders, Matthew; Schmidt, Michael W.I.; Schrumpf, Marion; Seyfferth, Janine; Skiba, Ute; Soussana, Jean-Francois; Sutton, Mark A.; Tefs, Cindy; Vowinckel, Bernhard; Zeeman, Matthias J.; Kaupenjohann, Martin, Dissolved carbon leaching from soil is a crucial component of the net ecosystem carbon balance, Global Change Biology, 17, (2), 2011, p1167-1185Journal Article, 2011, DOI , URL , TARA - Full Text
• Saunders MJ, Kansiime F, Jones MB,, Agricultural encroachment: implications for carbon sequestration in tropical African wetlands, Global Change Biology, 18, (4), 2012, p1312 - 1321Journal Article, 2012
• Abdalla M, Saunders M, Hastings A, Williams M, Smith P, Osborne B, Lanigan G, Jones MB, Simulating the impacts of land use in Northwest Europe on Nat Ecosystem Exchange (NEE): The role of arable ecosystems, grasslands and forest plantations in climate change mitigation., Science of the Total Environment, 465, (1), 2013, 325-336Journal Article, 2013, DOI
• Peichl M, Sonnentag O, Wohlfahrt G, Flanagan LB, Baldocchi DD, Kiely G, Galvagno M, Gianelle D, Marcolla B, Pio C, Migliavacca M, Jones MB, Saunders M, Convergence of potential net ecosystem production among contrasting C3 grasslands, Ecology Letters, 16, 2013, p502 - 512Journal Article, 2013

• Siobhán McDonald, 'The Boglands are Breathing', 2023, -Visual art production

My research programme in the field of plant ecophysiology, focuses on the response of plants to changes in their physical, chemical and biological environments and addresses key questions such as how climate change, land management and land use change influence the resilience and adaptive capacity of terrestrial ecosystems to provide key ecosystem services (e.g. the provision of food, fuel, water and climate mitigation). This work is undertaken across multiple spatial and temporal scales by assessing carbon (C), water and nitrogen dynamics across the soil-plant"atmosphere continuum, ranging from short-term leaf or soil measurements to long-term ecosystem scale assessments. My research to date has assessed the impacts of extreme climatic variability and management on forest productivity (Saunders et al., 2014; Saunders et al., 2012), the influence of land use change on ecosystem service provision in tropical African wetlands (Saunders et al., 2007; Saunders et al., 2012; Saunders et al., 2014), highlighted the socio-economic and environmental impacts of wood fuel supply in sub-Saharan Africa (Cerutti et al., 2015), emphasised the need for coordinated research infrastructures to address climate mitigation and food security in Africa (Lopez Ballesteros et al., 2018) and has identified key components of the terrestrial carbon cycle that are often overlooked (Kindler et al., 2011). I have worked closely with many of the biogeochemical measurement networks across Ireland (AGRI-I), Europe (CarboEurope-IP) and Globally (Fluxnet), and I continue to contribute to these networks through the EU Eddyflux database and the Integrated Carbon Observation System (ICOS). My standing in this field of research has been recognised by the ICOS network where I have led the development of standardised measurement protocols (Saunders et al., 2018) and the Environmental Protection Agency who have asked me to co-ordinate the development of a network of flux towers associated with the ecosystem component of the ICOS-Ireland initiative. My programme of research has significant policy implications such as the compilation of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emission inventories or addressing the UNDP Sustainable Development Goals. The policy relevance of my work is reflected in my success in obtaining over €2.2 million of independent research funding (allocated to TCD) since my appointment. My current projects are investigating the impacts of land use on soil organic carbon stocks (SOLUM), the role of agricultural management on nitrogen dynamics (MINE), the role of water table management in minimising soil derived C losses from agricultural systems (Agri-SOC), the influence of peatland characteristics and management on C/GHG dynamics (AUGER, SmartBog and Provosts PhD award) and the need for coordinated research infrastructures to develop climate-smart agricultural practices in vulnerable regions such as sub-Saharan Africa (SEACRIFOG project). My international research profile and the outputs from my currently funded projects will put me in a strong position to apply for future principal investigator-led funding from the Irish-Research Council, Science Foundation Ireland, the European research Council and future EU framework calls where I intend to further develop this network of experimental research platforms in Ireland, Europe and Africa.

• Title

  Investigating the carbon and greenhouse gas dynamics of raised bog ecosystems.
  Summary

  Peatlands are distinctive ecosystems that develop at the interface between terrestrial and aquatic biospheres, they cover only between 2-6% of the earth's surface but play a significant role in global carbon (C), water and greenhouse gas (GHG) dynamics1,2. These ecosystems store approximately 15 x 102 Pg of C representing ~33% of the global soil C pool1,3, and contribute up to 30% of the global methane (CH4) emissions4, which has a global warming potential 26 times greater than carbon dioxide (CO2) over a 100-year timeframe. In Ireland, peatlands cover between 14-20% of the land area and sequester an estimated 72,000 t C yr-1, however much of this area has been modified by anthropogenic activities such as extraction for energy, horticulture or domestic purposes or through drainage for agriculture or forestry5. Such land management activities have significant implications for the C sequestration potential and GHG dynamics of these ecosystems, and the restoration of degraded areas is required to enhance the C sink strength of these ecosystems and further offset national GHG emissions. Of particular national significance is the occurrence of peat-forming raised bogs, such as Clara Bog, Co Offaly, an annex II habitat under the EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), which while degraded is one of the best examples of active raised bog in Western Europe. Restoration activities are currently underway at Clara as part of a NPWS EU-funded LIFE project, and this project will enhance this work by investigating the impacts of peatland restoration on the C and GHG dynamics of this ecosystem.
  Funding Agency

  TCD
  Date From

  2018
  Date To

  2022
• Title

  Supporting EU-African Cooperation on Research Infrastructures for Food Security and Greenhouse Gas Observations
  Summary

  African societies face growing global change risks, with rapidly changing patterns of human settlements and intensity of use of ecosystem services. At the same time, climate variability and climate change trends are intensifying stress on the ecosystems that ensure environmental security, both locally (e.g. ecosystem services), regionally (e.g. sustainable development options) and internationally (e.g. carbon sequestration). Approaches that can address this challenge in an integrated and multidisciplinary way are urgently needed in many places in Africa where there is a close relationship between societal well-being and environmental condition, relating particularly to biomass for energy and food production, and hydrological considerations such as water yields. Policymakers and land-use decision makers are increasingly dependent on knowledge on the state of the environment. Long-term observational systems and research infrastructures have been identified to be indispensable elements of knowledge generation to serve climate change adaptation, food security, and climate change mitigation. This proposal supports EU-African cooperation on research infrastructures. Its aims are to increase coherence and interoperability between infrastructures in Europe and Africa, to enhance technical competence, science awareness and lifelong learning in Africa in order to facilitate the use of research results for evidence-based policy making, and to identify knowledge gaps for future research directions.
  Funding Agency

  EU Horizon 2020
  Date From

  2017
  Date To

  2020
• Title

  Knowledge and climate services from an African observation and Data research Infrastructure
  Summary

  The project ?Knowledge and climate services from an African observation and Data research Infrastructure? aims to provide concepts for developing the best available science and science-based services in Africa that are needed to sharpen our common action on climate change as outlined in the Paris Agreement and the UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular SDG 13 ?Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts?. The concepts we want to provide aim at improving the knowledge base on climate change in Africa and developing the tools to combat the negative consequences of it. This basic objective shall be achieved by a consortium that combines partners from Africa and Europe but also combines diverse experiences, backgrounds and viewpoints. The common goal is to provide a comprehensive concept that supports the important societal role of research outlined above by co-designing research capacities for climate change observation with societal demands and expectations, in our case called ?climate services? and to pave the way for their implementation. The specific objectives of the proposed project are: ? A comprehensive design for a pan-African climate observation system developed on the basis of climate services as guiding design principle. This shall be rooted in a comprehensive documentation of past and existing observing capability, contrasted with scientifically justified requirements to identify the gaps. ? A broad information network as basis for a successful and sustainable cooperation that connects infrastructure operators, scientists, data and knowledge users, a community of practice in climate services, agencies and funding bodies. This will be achieved by a dense networking and knowledge exchange approach connecting to all important players on the global, continental, national, and local level. ? A solid strategy for implementation and usage in close connection to future actors and users.
  Funding Agency

  Horizon Europe
  Date From

  01/09/2022
  Date To

  31/08/2025
• Title

  Smart observations of management impacts on peatland function.
  Summary

  The primary objective of this project is to develop an inter-disciplinary approach to assess the impact of anthropogenic management of peatlands, through drainage and land use conversion, on carbon and greenhouse gas emissions. This project will utilise high-resolution hyperspectral and Copernicus Sentinel-2 satellite based imagery to identify peatland land use and drainage extent, and combine this information with land-atmosphere and fluvial C/GHG emission measurements to derive a habitat condition and peatland drainage map that can be aligned to a GHG emission factor.
  Funding Agency

  Environmental Protection Agency
  Date From

  2019
  Date To

  2023
• Title

  Characterising Organic and Inorganic Carbon Sequestration associated with Soil Amendments
  Summary
  Funding Agency

  Teagasc Walsh Scholarships
  Date From

  01/09/2022
  Date To

  31/08/2026
• Title

  Soil organic carbon and land use mapping
  Summary

  The primary objective of this project is to develop a spatially integrated soils and land use dataset for Ireland that will be used to provide:  robust estimates of reference SOC stocks  an enhanced methodology to report SOC carbon stock changes  a better process-based understanding of the influence of land use, management and climate on SOC stocks, CSC and GHG dynamics  the capability to inform Tier 2 reporting activities and land-based mitigation methodologies  the development of robust uncertainty analysis in the national GHG inventory for SOC stock changes and GHG emissions associated with LULUCF
  Funding Agency

  Environmental Protection Agency
  Date From

  2017
  Date To

  2020
• Title

  Adaptation, mitigation and protection strategies to increase resilience of Irish forests to address the impacts of climate change
  Summary

  Resilience is a measure of how a forest responds to a perturbation, and how quickly it can recover to its ideal state. In the face of changing climate, and increased threat from pests and pathogens, building the resilience of forest ecosystems is vital to protecting the ecosystem services they deliver. The research proposal ADAPTForRes addresses three measures (pillars) aim at increasing resilience: 1-Forest Genetic Options, 2- Forest Management Practices and 3-Forest protection measures. Each pillar has a number of tasks, with associated objectives, and tasks are conducted by national experts in their field of research that contribute to pillar goals. The main aim of pillar 1, is to assess whether the current range of forest reproductive material (FRM) is suitably adapted for climate change and whether additional FRM has potential to assist adaption, while maintaining sustainable production or conservation goals. Pillar 2, aims to conduct research into forest management options for minimizing the impacts of climate change through enhanced mitigation (assessment of afforestation options). It will also evaluate the potential of using diverse and adaptive sustainable forest management practices which may offer the potential to increase the resilience of Irish forests. Such practices may have potential to minimise risk of carbon loss from existing forest stocks owing to the expected increasing frequency of natural disturbance. Pillar 3, will conduct research in forest protection, including a global horizon scanning and pest risk assessment of key forest species, and examine the potential of an innovative riskbased surveillance network (using sentinel sites). to detect and track the progression of pathogens in Irish forests. There is provision for the development of an authenticated reference pest collection for assisting plant health regulations. Taken together the research has significant impact to contribute to increasing resilience in Irish forests and reducing the uncertainty associated with climate change.
  Funding Agency

  DAFM
  Date From

  01/11/2021
  Date To

  31/10/2025
• Title

  Assessing the role of multispecies GRAssland swarDs on clImatE mitigatioN, water quality and productiviTy in Ireland (GRADIENT)
  Summary

  Agriculture dominates the Irish landscape, with ~60% of the total land area devoted to grass-based agriculture for beef and dairy production. However, this type of land use has significant environmental implications, as the agricultural sector accounts for ~30% of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and can have negative impacts on both surface and groundwater quality. These systems provide food for a growing population but need to rapidly develop more sustainable approaches in order to move towards carbon neutrality and to meet emission reduction targets and water quality legislation. Coupled with this there, is a requirement to better understand the carbon and greenhouse gas dynamics of these ecosystems, to determine the drivers of emissions and how these change with variations in management and climate. This project will assess how alternative planting mixtures and management interventions can reduce gaseous and aquatic emissions of carbon and nitrogen and further our understanding of the drivers and spatio-temporal variability in emissions. This work will then directly contribute to enhancing the sustainability of grassland production in Ireland.
  Funding Agency

  Science Foundation Ireland
  Date From

  01/01/2023
  Date To

  31/12/2027
• Title

  Peatland properties influencing greenhouse gas emissions and removals
  Summary

  Peatlands have played an important role in climate regulation over the past 10,000 years. Pristine peatlands in Ireland are currently a small C sink (absorbing CO2 while emitting CH4) but represent less than 20% of the current national resource. Anthropogenic disturbances, mainly in the form of drainage (for agriculture and forestry) and peat extraction result in increased CO2 and N2O emissions, and reduced CH4 emissions. There are two options for mitigating GHG emissions from peatlands: avoiding new or recurrent drainage and reducing emissions on the existing drained areas. Climate policy instruments involving mitigation on peat soils are not being implemented in Ireland due to lack of basic information on the peatland resource and in particular its properties. This knowledge gap should be addressed in order to fully quantify the role of human activities on the climate footprint of Irish peatlands. Therefore the main objective of this project is to carry out a nationwide survey to document the properties of various types of peatlands and peat soils, how they are affected by various management options and how this influences the C and GHG dynamics of these systems, thereby quantifying the role of human activities on the climate footprint of Irish peatlands.
  Funding Agency

  Environmental Protection Agency
  Date From

  2017
  Date To

  2020
• Title

  Assessing Peatland Emissions of Nitrous Oxide (ASPEN)
  Summary

  Peatland ecosystems provide multiple ecosystem services (water quality, biodiversity, carbon sequestration, cultural and recreational) and represent a vital nature based climate mitigation solution. Globally these ecosystems cover approximately 3% of the land area and store over 30% of the soil based carbon (C) stocks, while in Ireland these figures increase to ~20% and up to 75% respectively1,2. However, over 80% of the peatlands in Ireland have been drained for industrial extraction or have been converted to forestry or agriculture. This has significant implications for the climate mitigation potential of these systems, as lowering the water table allows for the development of an aerobic layer in the peat substrate leading to an increase in rates of oxidation and emission of the carbon stored as carbon dioxide (CO2)3, with the agricultural use of peatlands for grass based production representing a significant emission source, with 8 Mt CO2-eq emitted annually4. Furthermore, the drainage of peatlands can increase nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions due to enhanced oxygen and nitrogen availability, with drained northern peatlands estimated to emit between 30-100 Gg N2O-N per year5. This project aims to assess the impact of peatland management on N2O production and emission, which represents an understudied area in peatland greenhouse gas (GHG) dynamics6. This work will engage with the national and international stakeholders in this area (policy, national emissions inventory team, academic, wetland community groups, farmers) to collate all relevant information available from relevant national research projects (e.g. BOGLAND, AUGER, A framework for the restoration of degraded peatlands, EcoMetrics, SmartBog, SWAMP, CarePeat, AGRI-SOC, Agricultural Catchment Programme) and data from other relevant studies on northern peatlands, on rates of N2O emission and the key proxies that drive emissions. This will provide a foundation to assess the current state of understanding, identify key knowledge gaps and engage new measurement programmes to address these. Building on this, work will be undertaken to enhance the knowledge available by measuring the soil-atmosphere N2O emissions from a wide range of peatland sites in Ireland. These may include near-natural sites (representing baseline emissions), industrial extraction sites undergoing enhanced and natural rehabilitation, drained agricultural sites subject to rewetting and peatland converted to forestry. By strategically selecting the measurement sites this work will align with, and contribute to activities in the EPA funded SmartBog project, the SFI/Microsoft funded Terrain-AI project, the National Soil Carbon Observatory, the other EPA research fellows working on CO2 and methane (CH4) and the EPA funded Wet-Peat project respectively. The sites will be characterised to assess the influence of key proxy variables on rates of emission (water table height, nutrient status, bulk density, peat degradation, C:N ratio, pH) and this information will be used to develop site-specific emission factors. The work will also asses the spatial and temporal variability in emissions, which can be then be linked to a geo-spatial framework (e.g. SmartBog, other EPA research fellows (CH4/CO2) and T-AI) to enable wider upscaling. This work will also provide input data required for the validation and calibration of the DNDC/DNDC-Wetland model and will build on current modelling activities using ECOSSE and CoupModel (AUGER, SmartBog), which will be used to assess the influence of management (rehabilitation/rewetting) and climatic variability on emission dynamics, in addition to aiding with spatial upscaling of emissions. The primary research activities associated with this project will therefore provide activity data to refine the use of Tier I emission factors (EFs) for N2O emissions associated with cutaway and drained peatlands (FOS).
  Funding Agency

  Environmental Protection Agency
• Title

  Improving methodologies for reporting and verifying terrestrial CO2 removals and emissions from Irish PEATlands (CO2PEAT)
  Summary

  Peatlands are highly sensitive wetland ecosystems with accumulated dead organic material resulting from anaerobic conditions due to inundation leading to consistently high water tables 1,2. They represent one of the most important terrestrial carbon (C) sinks globally, storing one third of soil C, despite only covering c. 3% of total land-surface 3. In Ireland, peatlands have been present in the landscape since the last Ice Age, and currently occupy up to 20% of the country"s land area 4, and they account for between 53-75% of the total Irish soil organic C stocks 5,6. As such, Irish peatlands are important both nationally and internationally7 in the provision of key ecosystem services such as climate mitigation. However, much of the peatland area in Ireland (80%) has been influenced through anthropogenic management through the drainage of these systems and either conversion to forestry or agriculture, or extraction for energy or horticultural purposes7. Accurate estimates of the impact of land-use/management and drainage on the hydrology, ecology and biogeochemistry of peatland ecosystems in Ireland are required to provide a research-basis for policy decisions that will validate the actions outlined in the National Climate Action plan and to enable the conservation of these ecosystems to sequester C in future. For example, restoring degraded peatlands represents one of the key ways 8 to achieve the net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions target by 20509. There are a number of historic and current research projects that have/are investigating the impact of peatland use and rehabilitation on the hydrology, ecology and biodiversity status of these systems (CelticFlux, Bogland, EcoMetrics, SmartBog, CarePeat, Agri-SOC, iHabimap, Auger, Swamp, Terrain-AI), and information from these projects is important to better inform the implementation, impacts and monitoring requirements of key peatland rehabilitation plans, such as the enhanced restoration of candidate cut-over/cut-away peatland in the EU LIFE IP Peatlands & People project, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) Peatlands Restoration Programme (PRP), and the Bord na Mona (BnM) EDRRS activities in Ireland.
  Funding Agency

  Environmental Protection Agency
• Title

  Carbon sequestration from Agricultural soils from different Land-uses, Managements and Soil types
  Summary

  The 2021 Climate Action and Low Carbon Development (Amendment) Act sets out in law Ireland"s commitment to reduce overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 51% by 2030 and achieve climate neutrality by 2050. The sectoral emissions targets set by the Government in 2022 include a 25% reduction (5.75 Mt CO2e) in emissions from the Agriculture sector. In the Irish inventory, the largest Land Use, Land-Use Change and Forestry (LULUCF) emissions source is grassland which emitted 7.6 Mt CO2eq in 2021. The 3.9 million hectares of grassland on mineral soils were estimated in the national inventory to sequester c. 2 Mt CO2eq. However, there was also approx. 337,000 hectares of managed pasture on drained peat soils which were calculated to emit c. 9.6 Mt CO2eq. These values are derived from Tier 1 default emission factors by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and thus represents a large uncertainty on what the actual emission and sink potential of Irish agricultural soils are. Therefore, there is a necessity for measured CO2 flux data and measured soil organic carbon (SOC) stock data from different soil types, managements and land-uses. The aims of this project are to quantify the effect of soils (mineral and peat), management (grazing intensities and sward composition) and land-use (grassland and cropland) on carbon sequestration. The project will use an ensemble of techniques including eddy covariance to measure ecosystem scale fluxes of CO2 and CH4 which in combination with management, soil carbon stocks and biomass data will allow the construction of ecosystem scale carbon balances.
  Funding Agency

  Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine
  Date From

  01/07/2024
  Date To

  30/06/2024
• Title

  Manipulation and Integration of Nitrogen Emissions
  Summary

  Nitrous oxide emissions comprise over one-third of all agricultural emissions, with the majority arising from livestock production. Both Food Wise 2025 and Origin Green initiatives aim to simultaneously increase agricultural production, whilst also reducing the carbon footprint and enhancing sustainability associated with that production. Conversely EU Climate and Energy Package targets require reductions in absolute emissions. Current nitrous oxide mitigation research attempts to reduce N2O emissions via various means which may increase other reactive N losses (from leached N or ammonia volatilisation). Converting excess soil N to N2 (via the process of total and co-denitrification) offers the prospect of diverting excess N away from environmentally damaging N forms (N2O, NH3, NO3-) to environmentally benign N2. In addition, most N2O research is principally focussed on manipulation at the plot scale, with little or no temporal or spatial verification of measures. This makes verifying the carbon and nitrogen footprint of farms use default emission factors difficult, with no empirical verification of these emissions.
  Funding Agency

  Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine
  Date From

  2018
  Date To

  2022
• Title

  Terrain Artificial Intelligence (Terrain-AI)
  Summary

  Population growth, demographic shifts, climate change and the need for increased food production are placing new and increased pressures and demands on our natural resources, highlighting the need for adopting more sustainable life-styles. Now, more than ever, we need high-quality, timely information about our farms, forests, natural wetlands and cities in order to better understand the interdependencies and interactions between the human activities and natural processes that create these complex environments. Terrain-AI will tackle this challenge through the innovative fusion of multi-thematic data-sources captured from spaceborne satellites, aerial/drone platforms, in-field instruments, in-situ sensor networks and mobile devices with existing databases, on land use and population, using highly automated Machine Learning workflows to extract terrestrial features, patterns and processes " essential to understanding and managing these environments. Integrated land-surface models, capable of handling uncertainty, will utilise these AI outputs together with land-cover type, biomass and environmental variables to produce improved estimates of Carbon Stocks and Exchanges. The big research opportunity here is building a state-of-the-art digital terrestrial monitoring and modelling platform based on Terrain-AI"s 14 instrumented real-world test-sites together with the latest Earth Observation, Robotics and Sensing technologies that will enable the collaborative research and development of scalable ML and integrated modelling workflows with a team of over 45 dedicated research specialists. There are big commercial and societal opportunities including, developing next generation digital Agri-tech products and services through to making real changes in how we manage Carbon on our farms, forests, peatlands and urban spaces, in support of sustainable land use.
  Funding Agency

  Science Foundation Ireland/Microsoft
  Date From

  01/01/2021
  Date To

  31/01/2023
• Title

  Quantification of the impact of agricultural management on the carbon balance from organic and organo-mineral soils
  Summary

  National and EU Greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets pose considerable challenges for Irish agriculture. Reducing soil-based CO2 emissions from organic soils is a key measure in the national Climate Action Plan and offers the potential to reduce emissions whilst maintaining productivity. Agricultural soils are currently reported as a net source of carbon emissions due to the drainage of peat soils for agricultural use. Rewetting drained peat soils provide an opportunity to reduce emissions and protect our largest carbon sink, with over 1 billion tonnes carbon stored in these soils. Enhancing C sequestration also offers value for money, with abatement from organic soils representing potential C credit savings ranging from €109M to €327M over the reporting period 2021-30 (based on costs of €25-€75 per tonne CO2). However there are large uncertainties around the magnitude of emissions associated with both drainage depth (shallow and deep drains) and the nutrient status (nutrient rich versus nutrient poor) of these soils. Therefore national data are required to better quantify soil carbon emissions and sinks from agricultural land, enable mitigation measures to increase carbon sequestration to be included in the national inventory and enable Ireland to benefit from the 2018 EU Effort Sharing Regulation. .
  Funding Agency

  Teagasc Walsh Scholarship
  Date From

  2021
  Date To

  2025
• Title

  Modelling and measuring agricultural management on peat soils to enhance removals and sequestration of carbon
  Summary

  Ireland and New Zealand aim to at least halve greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and reach net zero carbon by 2050. A significant contribution common to both countries national GHG estimates comes from grassland over drained organic (peat) soils with upper estimates of approximately 9Mt CO2eq and 5.4Mt CO2eq for Ireland and NZ, respectively. These large and uncertain estimates are derived from the application of default IPCC tier 1 emission factors (EFs) to 335,000ha and 167,800ha of peat soils assumed as 100% deep drained grassland for agricultural use. The latest research in Ireland and NZ addresses some key uncertainties around the area of peat soil, drainage depth, nutrient status and lack of national specific EFs associated with these large estimates. This project aims to assess the use of process- based models (e.g. ECOSSE & DNDC) to predict carbon emissions from agriculturally used peat soils, parameterising them to reflect the peat characteristics and range of management intensities representative of both countries.
  Funding Agency

  Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine
  Date From

  01/02/2024
  Date To

  21/01/2028
• Title

  Management of peatland forests for climate, biodiversity and water quality
  Summary

  Forests have a key role to play in mitigating climate change. This needs to be balanced against the need to deliver a range of social, economic, and environmental services. 38% of Ireland's forests are on peat and there is an urgent need for empirical data on carbon dynamics on greenhouse gas exchange to support national climate policy, international reporting requirements, and the identification of sustainable emission reduction pathways. Alongside these challenges is the need to identify alternative management options for peatland forests that improve their sustainability. PeatFor addresses these challenges through a set of complementary Tasks that will set up a series of field experiments to assess carbon dynamics and greenhouse gas exchange, impacts of forest management interventions, including rewetting, on biodiversity. The results of these field investigations will be combined in a modelling framework to assess the current and future sustainability of peatland forest. In addition to supporting climate and biodiversity policy, PeatFor will train five PhD level scientists and one Post-Doctoral scientist. These scientists will be trained in state-of-the-art techniques that will provide them with the skills to support the continued and evolving need for interdisciplinary scientific research to support the multiple aims of sustainable forest management and the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
  Funding Agency

  Department of the Environment Food and the Marine
  Date From

  01/08/2024
  Date To

  31/07/2029
• Title

  Evaluating land-use and land management impacts on soil organic carbon in Irish agricultural systems.
  Summary

  Agriculture contributes over one-third of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, with the majority arising from livestock production. Both Food Wise 2025 and Origin Green initiatives aim to simultaneously increase agricultural production, whilst also reducing the carbon footprint and enhancing sustainability associated with that production. Conversely EU Climate and Energy Framework targets require a 30% reduction in emissions. Carbon (C) sequestration associated with pastures and improved grassland management could provide a mitigation option without impacting on agricultural production. In addition, improved soil carbon should lead to better nutrient cycling and soil nutrient availability. More accurate quantification of C sequestration in grasslands is essential to allow reporting to Tier 2 and 3 levels and to provide information that allows for both effective reduction and mitigation of C emissions at both the field and national level. Management practices that can increase SOC stocks to mitigate climate change will provide the basis for inclusion of grassland soils into both carbon trading schemes and LCA's, which will assist the sector both in terms of carbon credits and a reduced carbon footprint on agricultural produce. This project will integrate with various other projects quantifying and/or modelling C and nitrogen (N) processes to provide costed toolkit of potential management of C associated with grasslands.
  Funding Agency

  Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine
  Date From

  2018
  Date To

  2022
• Title

  Analysis of grasslands and associated management practices and potential impact on GHG emissions and removals
  Summary

  Under the EU Effort Sharing Decision (Decision No 406/2009/EC), Ireland's 2020 target is to achieve a 20% reduction in GHG emissions. Ireland reports annually on GHG inventories (Decision 13/CP.9) which include estimates of carbon gain or release from LULUCF categories. While the LULUCF categories have different characteristics in terms of carbon stocks, potential GHG emissions and removals, existing methodologies have been shown to underestimate carbon sinks from grasslands. Grassland represents the dominant land use category in Ireland and can act as a source or a sink of carbon depending on the land management practice in situ. Insufficient data exists at present to evaluate impacts of changes in the spatial extent and associated management of grassland systems on GHG emissions and removals within the LULUCF sector.
  Funding Agency

  Environmental Protection Agency
  Date From

  2016
  Date To

  2018

Forestry sciences, Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences, Climate change science, Soil sciences, Plant biology, Oceanography, Control engineering, mechatronics and robotics,

• Enterprise Ireland Knowledge Transfer Ireland Impact Award 2016
• Trinity Excellence in Teaching Awards (TETA) 2024
• Provost's Teaching Award (Shortlisted) 2019

• European Geosciences Union Present
• American Geophysical Union Present
• Wetlands Professional Platform. 2007

• Editorial board member for Global Change Biology Bioenergy 2016
• Editorial board member for Global Change Biology Bioenergy 2016