‘Recording the impact of global change on the carbon sinks and biogeochemistry of peat bog aquatic ecosystems in the hypersensitive Tierra del Fuego area (Southern Argentina)’

Ana María Borromei, Andrea Mª Josefa Coronato, Antonio Martínez Cortizas, Augusto Pérez Alberti, Daniel Rey García, Eduardo García-Rodeja Gayoso, Jorge Rabassa, Juan Carlos Novoa Muñoz, Marcos Valcarcel Díaz, Ramón Blanco Chao.

The present project will entail studying biotic and abiotic signals preserved in the bogs in high resolution chronological windows.By this means we can gauge the effects of natural and induced change, and elucidate the evolutionary pathways of these ecosystems, coupled with global change. Variations in peat bog components are authentic biomarkers for change at a global, regional and local level.

The main objective is to identify the responses (sensitivity and intensity) of these ecosystems on different time scales to global environmental change, through biogeochemical characterisation, organic and inorganic, the obtention of paleomagnetic patterns, and their chronological contextualisation.This should hopefully facilitate the integration of environmental, economic and social objectives in the planning of ecosystem responses; increase our understanding of global change and how to detect and predict its manifestations; and encourage greater involvement in international polar and circumpolar research.