Climate change is one of the existential challenges confronting ecosystems and humans in the 21st century. We urgently need a better understanding of several key climate forcing agents to better forecast the magnitude, timing, and impacts of climate change and to develop and implement effective solutions. Carbon (C)-containing molecules play a key role in five of seven classes of anthropogenic forcing agents of climate change. The Czimczik Group combines field observation with geochemical analyses to understand how climate change and anthropogenic activities impact C cycling and storage in (Arctic) land ecosystems, air pollution, and the global carbon cycle.
A major focus of our work are northern high latitude ecosystems (boreal forest and arctic tundra) that are experiencing amplified rates of climate change and are undergoing complex changes in ecosystem properties. Since many of the anticipated changes in soil and vegetative characteristics will contribute to climate warming and provide extreme challenges for wildlife and human societies within the Arctic, it is critically important to reduce the current uncertainties in their rate and magnitude.
Another focus of our research is the linkage between the disturbances to the global C cycle and air pollution, which has significant implications for climate change, ecosystem function, and human health. We investigate how the combustion of fossil fuels, biomass burning, and wildfires contribute to air pollution and climate change. Studies focus on understanding the carbonaceous aerosol burden and carbon dioxide emissions in both remote and populated areas.
To study land ecosystems, our diverse group combines data and sample collection in the field along natural gradients (including space-for-time chronosequences) and at experiments with the analysis of soil, plants, and air in the field and laboratory (mixing ratios of gases (CO2, CH4, N2O), elemental (C, N) and isotope analysis (Δ14C, δ13C, δ15N)). Many projects also involve the development of new analytical techniques. We work closely with scientists from UC Irvine’s W. M. Keck C Cycle Accelerator Mass Spectrometry facility and partner with experts in remote sensing and, or modeling to scale our research from square meters to landscapes.
Published work can be found here.