NWT RESEARCH DATABASE

Regions: Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Gwich'in Settlement Area

Tags: physical sciences, soil chemistry, carbon dioxide, permafrost thaw, tundra

Objective(s): To understand how gradients in tundra vegetation and permafrost thaw affect soil carbon and mercury cycling.

Project Description: This licence has been issued for the scientific research application No.5564. The main goal of the project is to understand how gradients in tundra vegetation and permafrost thaw affect soil carbon and mercury cycling. This will allow the research team to assess how permafrost thaw and changes in vegetation in a warmer climate could alter future carbon dioxide fluxes and impact mercury cycling in permafrost environments. The research team will work at 3-5 sites with different vegetation and thaw state. The team plans to measure carbon dioxide fluxes in these vegetation types using chambers; this method is not destructive. Soil samples will be collected using a spade or soil corer (5 cm diameter) to a depth of maximum 70 cm both along thaw gradients and under different vegetation. Thaw gradients can e.g. be collapse fens (representing thawed conditions) and peat plateaus (representing frozen conditions). lant (few sm... Show moreall individuals of the most common plant species, no endangered plants) will be sampled by carefully digging them out by hand. Part of the samples will be taken by a research team from Stockholm University, and part by technical staff working for INTERACT. Samples will be kept cold and processed at Aurora College and then shipped to Stockholm University. The results will be disseminated to NWT stakeholders and community organizations from the beginning of the research campaign. In addition, the research team would be glad to organize outreach activities in Inuvik if the community is interested in that. The fieldwork for this study will be conducted from July 20, 2023 to September 31, 2023. Show less