Distinguished Ecologist Lecture Series: Dr. Randy Kolka

Join us for the Ecosystem Science Center Distinguished Ecologist Lecture Series!

Title: Implications of Climate Change on Peatlands: Results of the SPRUCE Experiment

Description: The Spruce and Peatlands Responses Under Changing Environments (SPRUCE) experiment was an ecosystem-level climate simulation experiment that tested the response of high-carbon northern peatland ecosystems to increased temperatures and elevated carbon dioxide. The experiment was conducted in a black spruce bog in northern Minnesota at the USDA Forest Service’s Marcell Experimental Forest. Northern peatlands are an ecosystem considered especially vulnerable to climate change, and responses to warming and interactions with increased atmospheric CO2 concentration are anticipated to have important feedbacks on global climate. I will present an overview and some of the important results of SPRUCE to date, including treatment effects on greenhouse gas production, soil processes, plant communities, and mercury cycles.

Bio: Dr. Randy Kolka is a Research Soil Scientist at the US Forest Service Northern Research Station. Dr. Kolka conducts watershed- or landscape-level soil and hydrological research involving upland, riparian, and wetland soil carbon, mercury, and nutrient dynamics, and relates these studies to upland land use and pollution transport to surface waters. He investigates ecosystem restoration and the linkages between upland and riparian or wetland communities and studies the functions and implications of global climate change.

Organization: Northern Research Station, USFS (Grand Rapids, MN)