Data synthesis of EFForTS-OPMX experiment and spatial extrapolation of soil GHG fluxes
My primary research interest is in the area of forest ecology and trace greenhouse gas fluxes within the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum and how they are affected by global change processes. My present research work within the CRC 990 EFForTS project involves a comprehensive synthesis of various ecosystem functions in large-scale oil palm plantations in order to assess whether reduced fertilization rates and mechanical weeding can contribute to a more sustainable oil palm production than conventional management, and upscaling of measured soil N2O and CH4 fluxes from plot to the landscape level. Here, we will compare a simple ‘measure and multiply’ approach with a ‘landscape segmentation’ approach, in which we incorporate the distal controls of landform shape and position on soil GHG fluxes at the landscape scale. Our upscaling approaches will also be compared with the upscaling approach using the process-based Community Land Model (A07 Knohl/Veldkamp). To assess the quality of our upscaling methods, we plan to validate our predicted values at a selection of independent sites or plots (included in the scope of the Landscape Assessment), other than the 46 core plots.