Peatlands play a great role in our planet’s carbon balance. They sequester carbon dioxide and store carbon, thus neutralizing it. Mires occupy nearly a third of the territory of Karelia and the paludification process is ongoing.
Global warming and international climate agreements have rendered research on the role of natural ecosystems in the carbon balance ever more topical. Russia is creating a unified natural system for monitoring climate-active substances, including greenhouse gases. Their emissions are being actively studied by specialists at Karelian Research Centre’s institutes as well.
The Laboratory for Greenhouse Gas Monitoring at DMR KarRC RAS was established in 2022 within the Science and Universities national project. It primary objective is estimation of the carbon budget in natural and drained peatland ecosystems of the Northwest Russian boreal zone.
Scientists will collect and analyze field data to estimate carbon pools in boreal peatland ecosystems, greenhouse gas emissions, carbon leaching with water from peatlands, probability of carbon input from precipitation.
Head of the Laboratory Elizaveta Linkevich, Cand.Sci. (Chem.), told about the current activities and plans for 2023 at DMR Learned Council meeting. In particular, scientists have already chosen the first area to be studied – the 63 ha Blizkoye mire, situated in the Kivach Strict Nature Reserve. Greenhouse gas measurements there will be done by the closed-chamber method, using a special station for analyzing system-wide CO2 and methane fluxes.
The researchers will identify the factors influencing greenhouse gas emissions: anthropogenic, climatic, seasonal, etc. Peatland soils will be sampled to cover the entire depth and surface area of the mire, water samples will be collected, and the effects of seasonality and climate on the deposit’s major physicochemical characteristics will be assessed.
– We plan to pin down the relationship between peat-forming plants and the process of greenhouse gas emissions from the peatland surface and from the peat column. Techniques for structural group analysis of peatland soils will be elaborated, carbon distribution will be assessed, and correlations of greenhouse gas parameters with the main physicochemical characteristics and climatic conditions will be detected, – Elizaveta Linkevich shared.
Scientists will employ modern physicochemical techniques for greenhouse gas monitoring and measurement.
KarRC RAS
in social media
in social media
News
December 30, 2022
A new laboratory, for greenhouse gas monitoring, has been established at the Karelian Research Centre RAS. It will be part of the Department for Multidisciplinary Research (DMR). Laboratory staff will work to estimate the carbon balance in natural and drained peatland ecosystems of Karelia.
See also:
October 5, 2026
Ancient rock art discussed in Belomorsk by scientists from across Russia
On October 1-5, Zalavruga Visitor Center in Belomorsk hosted the All-Russian Conference "Ancient Rock Art: Contemporary Challenges in Preservation, Management and Use". Scientists from Petrozavodsk, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Ufa, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Tver, Vladivostok, and Apatity, as well as from Astana (Kazakhstan) delivered presentations and discussed the results and prospects of research on ancient rock art.
On October 1-5, Zalavruga Visitor Center in Belomorsk hosted the All-Russian Conference "Ancient Rock Art: Contemporary Challenges in Preservation, Management and Use". Scientists from Petrozavodsk, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Ufa, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Tver, Vladivostok, and Apatity, as well as from Astana (Kazakhstan) delivered presentations and discussed the results and prospects of research on ancient rock art.
September 30, 2026
Karelian scientists present the results of research into plant growth control mechanisms at a conference in Makhachkala
Scientists from the Karelian Research Centre’s Institute of Biology and Forest Research Institute – Tatyana Shibaeva, Natalia Galibina, and Irina Teslyuk – took part in the All-Russian Conference "Patterns of Distribution, Reproduction and Adaptation of Plants and Animals" held in Makhachkala within the annual meeting of the Russian Society of Plant Physiologists. The researchers presented the results of studies on the mechanisms of regulation and control of plant growth, including agricultural crops and woody species.
Scientists from the Karelian Research Centre’s Institute of Biology and Forest Research Institute – Tatyana Shibaeva, Natalia Galibina, and Irina Teslyuk – took part in the All-Russian Conference "Patterns of Distribution, Reproduction and Adaptation of Plants and Animals" held in Makhachkala within the annual meeting of the Russian Society of Plant Physiologists. The researchers presented the results of studies on the mechanisms of regulation and control of plant growth, including agricultural crops and woody species.
September 29, 2026
Five KarRC RAS doctoral students granted scholarships
Five doctoral students at the Karelian Research Centre RAS will be receiving scholarships for a year. This decision was taken by the Head of the Republic of Karelia, Artur Parfenchikov, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Karelia "On Scholarships of the Republic of Karelia for Students Enrolled in Major Professional Educational Programs", Such scholarships are awarded to undergraduate and graduate students, medical residents, and assistant trainees enrolled in higher education programs at the KarRC RAS, Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk State Conservatory, and a number of other educational institutions.
Five doctoral students at the Karelian Research Centre RAS will be receiving scholarships for a year. This decision was taken by the Head of the Republic of Karelia, Artur Parfenchikov, in accordance with the Law of the Republic of Karelia "On Scholarships of the Republic of Karelia for Students Enrolled in Major Professional Educational Programs", Such scholarships are awarded to undergraduate and graduate students, medical residents, and assistant trainees enrolled in higher education programs at the KarRC RAS, Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk State Conservatory, and a number of other educational institutions.