Angela Gallego-Sala, University of Exeter

I am a biogeochemist with expertise in climatic regulation of carbon fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. My particular area of expertise is peatlands and I have targeted my research to peatlands situated in different climatic zones to build a global perspective. I am also well placed to bridge empirical field/laboratory methods and global modelling. My career aim is to elucidate the unique role of peatlands in the Earth System covering multiple time horizons, e.g. from peat inception and accumulation over the Holocene, through to the potential impacts of enhanced peatland emissions accelerating climate change, with clear policy-relevance for avoiding dangerous climate change. I use a variety of methods in order to achieve this, including gas flux measurements, the paleo-record, modelling and biogeochemistry.

 

I am the principal investigator of the TroPeaCC project, an ERC Consolidator grant. This work complements a NERC funded project entitled: “ICAAP: Increased Carbon Accumulation in Arctic Peatlands”. I am co-I in two exciting grants, both studying different aspects of tropical peatlands: “KaLi: Multiple risks associated with drought and peatland fires in Indonesian Borneo” (GCRF funded) and “Ecosystem Carbon and Nitrogen Dynamics of Tropical Peatland (EDANDOTP)” funded by the Malaysian Oil Palm Board.

I was previously involved in a NERC-funded project entitled “Peatlands and the global carbon cycle during the past millennium: an assessment using observations and models”. I previously worked in Lund, Sweden, modelling the dynamic interactions of fire, vegetation, climate and human population in Mediterranean areas as part of the FUME European project. Earlier on, I worked at the University of Bristol, on a project entitled “Climate Change and the Uplands” commissioned by the Environment Agency, to study the implications of climate change for peatland soils in the UK and the effects on ecosystem services including carbon storage, flooding and water quality.

Previously, I worked towards a PhD funded by NERC with a CASE studentship entitled “Temperature effects on trace gas production and uptake in aerobic and anaerobic soils” at the University of Bristol.

Qualifications:
PhD in Biogeochemistry of Peatlands. University of Bristol
Postgraduate Certificate in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. Canterbury Christ Church University
MSc. Degree in Chemistry. University of Kent
BSc. Degree in Chemistry. Universidad Complutense de Madrid

See also my University of Exeter webpage.