Carbon balance

► David Paré (CFS, Canada) & Michèle Garneau (UQAM-GEOTOP, Canada)
► Theses involved: Antonin Prijac & Charles Ward

In this theme, we aim to quantify carbon sequestered in soils and peat bogs over time, and we also seek to evaluate the productivity of forests. Carbon content in deposits (soils and peatlands) will be determined through loss-to-fire analyzes, dry density measurements, and direct C recalcitrant analyzes.

In peat sequences, density analyzes will be carried out continuously at an interval of 1 cm after drying at 105°C for 12 hours. Fire-loss analyzes will also be continuous and at 1-cm intervals, but these will consist in burning the organic matter at 550°C for 3h30 (Heiri et al. 2001). Multiplication of the values ​​associated with these two approaches allows the quantification of the organic matter (OM) contained in the horizons. An estimate of the carbon residue is then determined by colorimetric analysis of a representative portion of the samples (Chambers et al. 2011). A characterization of the stability of organic matter to microbial attack will also be carried out by incubation (Paré et al. 2011).