Investigating the contribution of vanadium nitrogen fixation in ombrotrophic peatlands and their drivers in the present and in the past

Ombrotrophic peatlands are important carbon sinks and sources of greenhouse gases.

The evolution of peatlands with global environmental change will depend on the availability of new nitrogen (N), which enters these ecosystems mainly through biological nitrogen fixation (BNF).

Recent research has demonstrated the emerging role of vanadium (V)-based BNF in complementing the canonical molybdenum-requiring process; it supports N input in high latitude areas, questioning our estimates of N input fluxes and our understanding of the interaction between macro and micronutrients in terrestrial biomes.

The role of V-based N fixation and its control in the present and past of peatland ecosystems has yet to be unveiled.VanaPEAT will address these critical questions by using peat cores as an archive of the interaction between essential trace metal molybdenum and vanadium and nitrogen cycling in the Anthropocene (last 400-years) and the Holocene.

We will first investigate modern-day contributions and trace metal controls over N cycling in ombrotrophic peatland environments using isotopic geochemical methodologies I helped develop.

We will then determine past fluctuations in Mo and V availability to peatlands and their human, geological, and climatic origins using peat cores spanning periods up to the last glacial maximum (last 30,000-years).

Finally, we will investigate new isotopic proxies to track the contribution of V to BNF and link the fluctuations in metal deposition with V-supported N input along the Holocene.VanaPEAT will transform our understanding of the N cycle in present and past peatland ecosystems and ameliorate our projection for the terrestrial carbon sink during global environmental change.

It will investigate the earliest impact of human civilization and industry on natural ecosystems and inform policy decisions related to peatland conservation. VanaPEAT will diversify the applicant's research and help him re-integrate into European institutions.