PostDoctoral Research Fellowship

Johnson, Cody R., Logan UT

Investigators

Abstract

Johnson 0852075 This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). This project will investigate impacts of increased sedimentation and nutrient loading, due to the expansive (>1000 km2) Anaktuvuk River (AR) fire of 2007 in Arctic Alaska, on lake biogeochemistry and sediment metabolism. The near-term objectives are to: 1) Monitor the development and recovery of 2 large thermokarst failures on lakes within the area burned by the AR fire, 2) Quantify sediment loading to lakes impacted by fire and thermokarst failures, and 3) Determine impacts of thermokarst-driven increases in sediment loading on a) nutrient flux from the lake bottom to the water column, and b) sediment metabolism in deep and shallow areas of lakes. This research is designed to contribute to understanding how landscape disturbances in arctic regions impact terrestrial and aquatic nutrient and sediment transport and breakdown, in particular, and to contribute to the knowledge and concepts of disturbance ecology, in general. This project supports the further education and development of a promising young scientist through a carefully planned posy-doctoral mentorship with an experienced arctic field ecologist.