Vilmantas Prėskienis

Director: Isabelle Laurion (INRS)
Codirector: Daniel Fortier

Primary Address:
Institut national de la recherche scientifique, Centre Eau Terre Environnement (INRS-ETE)
490, rue de la Couronne
Québec (Québec) G1K 9A9

Email: [email protected]

Project Title

Greenhouse gas emissions from arctic lakes and ponds as influenced by carbon lability

Description of the project research

The rapid climate warming in Arctic regions has induced extensive permafrost thawing and the consequent mobilization of a large reservoir of organic carbon that was frozen for millennia. Although the release of this old carbon into the atmosphere, either as carbon dioxide (CO2) or methane (CH4), acts as a positive feedback mechanism to global warming, very little is known about the extent and rate of the gas release and the biochemical processes involved as the different carbon pools are becoming available to ecosystems of Arctic lakes and ponds. As a part of an interdisciplinary project investigating the influence of geomorphological and limnological factors on GHG emissions from lakes and ponds on Bylot Island, Nunavut, my study aims to determine the lability and accessibility of the different carbon pools to microorganisms.

To accomplish the main objective lability experiments are performed on four sediment types found in organic-rich polygonal patterned ground landscape and possessing specific characteristics (e.g., annual thermal regime, C/N ratio): upper-half portion of the active layer, lower-half of the active layer, permafrost, and thermokarst lake sediment. The different soil samples are incubated in-situ in shaded conditions, in one of the shallow tundra ponds. These incubation tests later are repeated in controlled and stable temperature conditions in laboratory. During the incubation, dissolved oxygen (O2) and headspace CH4 and CO2 concentrations are measured regularly. This data allows calculations of the rates of consumption or production of these gases and thus the lability of the carbon pools.

Keywords: Bylot Island, permafrost, greenhouse gases, arctic lakes and ponds, carbon lability

Conference presentations:

Prėskienis, V., Bouchard, F., Laurion, I., and Fortier, D. (2014). Greenhouse gas emissions from Arctic lakes and ponds as influenced by the geomorphology and carbon lability. Québec-Ontario Paleolimnology Symposium, May 14-16, Québec, Canada.
Conference posters:

Scholarships and other awards:

2014: Interdisciplinary Research EnviroNorth Fellowship

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