Magdalena Matysek

Emissions from fenland agricultural peat by Magdalena Matysek

Grantham Scholar Magdalena Matysek is the first author of paper on emissions from fenland agricultural peat.

Impact of fertiliser, water table, and warming on celery yield and CO2 and CH4 emissions from fenland agricultural peat attempts to find a water table level that would balance peat preservation and crop yield for agricultural fen peat.

It examines possible trade-offs between celery growth and emissions of greenhouse gases at different temperatures, water table levels, and fertiliser use.

Emissions fenland agricultural peat paper: highlights

Magdalena finds cultivation of peat soil requires drainage as most crops are intolerant of root-zone anoxia.
Plus raising the water table from −50 cm to −30 cm lowered CO2 emissions, but depressed celery yield.
And CH4 emissions were very low across all treatments.

Soil research at the Grantham Centre

Grantham Centre soil researchers come from across disciplines at the University of Sheffield to work on soil.

From chemistry to social sciences, working all around the world, we have a diverse group of soil experts. All this builds on a long history of soil science at the Grantham Centre – our people were at the famous 2015 COP21 (where the Paris Agreement was signed) to ring the bell about an impending disaster for soil.

More from Magdalena

Magdalena’s work at the Grantham Centre looks at Arctic soil. Her project measures emissions of two greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4). It investigates factors that influence levels, such as temperature of peat soil, water content, acidity and the depth of the permafrost.

In 2017 Magdalena Matysek presented ‘Effects of a raised water table on greenhouse gas emissions and celery yield from agricultural peat under climate warming conditions’ at European Geosciences Union General Assembly in Vienna.

Also in 2017, Magdalena went to the FAO’s Global Symposium on Soil Organic Carbon to present her research. If you want to find out more, read Grantham Scholar presents research at major UN FAO conference.

Magdalena introduced the Grantham Scholars to various geoengineering approaches. In particular they talked about the pros and cons of cloud seeding and reforestation. Read: Geoengineering the future by Magdalena Matysek.