Research

PROJECTS

Climate change will affect Arctic ecosystems more than any other ecosystem worldwide. During millions of years, atmospheric carbon has been stored in the Arctic soils. With warming, the carbon can rapidly escape the soils in the form of CO2 and (even worse) the strong greenhouse agent CH4. Soil warming also affects plant belowground growth and functioning affecting soil microbial communities. RootEcology Lab is part of projects like ForHot and FutureArctic, to study changes in plant growth dynamics and adaptation mechanisms of roots and rhizomes and plant communities along soil geothermal warming gradients.

Root-rhizobiome functional acclimation to climate and land-use changes, their impact on root nutrition and nutrient cycling in subarctic and boreal ecosystems:
1) the research factors include temperature rise, changes in water levels, and phenological shifts associated with climate change;
2) the role of plant root exudates in rhizosphere and soil nutrient cycling;
3) the role of the root-rhizobiome in changes to soil carbon stocks.

FutureScapes -as a scientifically innovative approach, we analyze complex relationships and adaptation mechanisms between biodiversity indicators, carbon stocks, carbon sequestration, and greenhouse gas flows at small spatial scales. We then scale this knowledge up to communities, ecosystems, and landscapes by using spatial data (including satellite images) and machine learning-based spatial modeling combined with socio-economic analysis.

Assessment of emissions and carbon stock dynamics in Estonian drained organic forest soils in the national greenhouse gas inventory. More information.

REstoration of WETlands to minimise emissions and maximise carbon uptake – a strategy for long term climate mitigation (REWET).

Research topics for students

ECOLOGY

Land-Use and ecosystems belowground

1. Soil carbon stock and sequestration in reforested agricultural lands
2. Rhizosphere processes in soils with different land-use histories
3. Nutrient cycling belowground: the missing component in ecosystem carbon and nutrient balance assessments.

How do soil processes recover during wetland restoration?

1. The effect of water level on organic matter decomposition.
2. How old are the roots of peatland plants?
3. The impact of drainage on the qualitative properties of peatland soils.

TECHNOLOGY

AI, Machine Learning, and Real-Time Measurements in Ecosystems belowground

1. Do plant roots grow year-round?
2. The impact of extreme weather events on root growth, soil fauna, soil structure…
3. Modeling root growth across landscapes.

Working with automated cameras and scanners in the soil allows data collection from a computer at home… and while the smart apps for this are still to be developed, no  landscape ecologist can ignore the plant belowground, rhizosphere and soil, meaning the demand for data is very high!

POLICY

Forest and soil monitoring is being legislated—are we ready to assess soil health? Do we need new soil health indicators?
(Materials: COM(2023)416 – Directive on Soil Monitoring and Resilience (Soil Monitoring Law); Proposal for a Regulation on a Forest Monitoring Framework, published 22 November 2023; Collaboration with the Estonian Environmental Agency).

Next-Generation Monitoring – Can satellites monitor changes in forest soil? How can we integrate datasets from various researchers and environmental monitoring programs, such as ICP Forest, ICOS, eLTER, etc., to improve environmental status assessments?

What are we doing wrong or overlooking in manipulation experiments? Can short-term climate manipulation experiments predict long-term changes? Why can’t we predict the future of ecosystems?
And much more…