About

Bog, mire, peatland, muskeg… the loved ones have multiple names. I fell to peatlands due their aesthetic values – the colors and smells, and the sound of moist peat slurping under your feet. Later during my studies at the University of Helsinki, I also learned about their importance as ecosystems holding 30% of the world’s soil carbon.

As researcher my goal is to provide tools that help to understand organic soil processes to accurately estimate their climate feedback and support their sustainable management. Therefore, I am especially fascinated to work to answer the following questions:

• How does land use and climate change affect on peat decomposition processes?
• What defines the decomposability of organic soils and how do different factors controlling decomposition interact?
• What is the role of plant-soil-microbial interactions in organic soil decomposition processes?
• Does litter from some plant functional groups support soil carbon sequestration while others lead to higher release of soil carbon?