School of Earth and Environment
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Alexandra Savage Dr Alexandra Savage

Knowledge Exchange Officer

Telephone number: +44(0) 113 34 32517
Email address: A.Savage@leeds.ac.uk

Biography

Alexandra's primary research interests lie in biogeochemical cycling and carbon losses from upland peats. She has also carried out work on brownfield regeneration and composting. Alexandra has worked in the private sector as a geo-environmental consultant as well as at the Environment Agency as a policy researcher and in secondary schools.

Qualifications

1997-2000 University of Wales, Aberystwyth BSc (Hons) Geography

2000-2001 University of Reading, MSc Soils and Environmental Pollution

2007-2011 University of Leeds, PhD "The Impacts of Land Management on Carbon Cycling in Upland Blanket Peats"

Memberships/Fellowships

  • Member of British Soil Science Society
  • Member of British Ecological Society
  • Member of Royal Geographical Society

Research Interests

Global efforts to counter the predicted effects of climate change are focussed on reducing carbon emissions, preserving existing carbon stocks and where possible increasing carbon stocks. Soils are valuable stores of carbon which hold organic matter which is released through microbial activity. Peatland soils are recognised as important carbon stores, whilst only covering 3% of the world's land mass, they are estimated to hold up to one-third of the world's carbon stocks.

To date, little work has been carried out to investigate the carbon budgets of peatlands; the work that has been completed has focussed on undisturbed peatlands, and suggested that peatlands are carbon sinks, but are predicted to become sources of carbon in the future under climate change.

Much of the peat uplands in the UK are under some form of management, yet their carbon budgets have yet to be calculated. If carbon stocks are to be preserved, questions need to be asked about the influence of management on the peat, and how it might affect carbon losses from peatlands in order to allow future management decisions to be made with a carbon storage perspective in mind.

Presentations

    Assessing the Impact of Land Management on Organic Matter Composition in Peats poster presentation EGU, Vienna, May 2010

    Understanding the Impact of Land Management on Carbon Losses from Peatlands oral presentation EGU Vienna May 2010

    Poster presentation to PeatNet's 2nd conference "Peatlands in the Global Carbon Cycle", Prague, 2009
    Managing Peatlands to Reduce Carbon Emissions

    Oral Presentation at the 2nd International BioHydrology Conference - A Changing Climate for Biology and Soil Hydrology Interactions, Bratislava, 2009
    The Role of Land Management on Carbon Cycling in Peatlands

    Poster presentation at "Highly Organic Soils" Conference, May 2009, Edinburgh on:
    Methods to Determine the Impact of Land Management on Carbon Emissions from Peatlands

    Oral presentation at the British Soil Science Society's "Young Scientists" conference, March 2009, Reading on:
    Methods of Investigating the Effects of Peatland Management on Carbon Cycling

    Poster presentation to University of Leeds Faculty of Environment Postgraduate Conference 2008,
    Methods to Determine the Impact of Upland Management on Carbon Losses by Examination of Changes in the Physical and Chemical Properties of Peat Soils