Editorial : Observing, Modeling and Understanding Processes in Natural and Managed Peatlands

Non peer reviewe

Denial of long-term issues with agriculture on tropical peatlands will have devastating consequences

Non peer reviewe

Investigation into controls on methanogenesis and methanotropy in the permafrost active layer at Stordalen, Sweden

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Undergraduate teaching assistants in Asia: a Singapore case study

Undergraduate teaching assistants (UTAs) have long been shown to support student learning in higher education, but most of the research on UTAs has been done in Western contexts. The aim of this study was to pilot a UTA programme within a first-year, interdisciplinary, team-based qualitative research methods course with fieldwork component at a large university in Singapore and evaluate the overall UTA experience. The findings pinpoint the UTAs’ motivations to serve, self-assessed contributions to student learning, expected and realized challenges, personal benefits both sought and gained, and post-course reflections as well as suggestions for improvement in future programmes. These UTAs, like their Western counterparts, are committed and capable peer mentors who can collaborate meaningfully with instructors to enhance undergraduate learning.Nanyang Technological UniversityThis project was supported by the EdeX Grant from the Teaching, Learning, and Pedagogy Division, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Predicting Forest Fire Using Remote Sensing Data And Machine Learning

Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence351714983-14990United State

Post-fire carbon dynamics in the tropical peat swamp forests of Brunei reveal long-term elevated CH4 flux

Tropical peatlands hold about 15%–19% of the global peat carbon (C) pool of which 77% is stored in the peat swamp forests (PSFs) of Southeast Asia. Nonetheless, these PSFs have been drained, exploited for timber and land for agriculture, leading to frequent fires in the region. The physico-chemical characteristics of peat, as well as the hydrology of PSFs are affected after a fire, during which the ecosystem can act as a C source for decades, as C emissions to the atmosphere exceed photosynthesis. In this work, we studied the longer-term impact of fires on C cycling in tropical PSFs, hence we quantified the magnitude and patterns of C loss (CO2, CH4 and dissolved organic carbon) and soil-water quality characteristics in an intact and a degraded burnt PSF in Brunei Darussalam affected by seven fires over the last 40 years. We used natural tracers such as 14C to investigate the age and sources of C contributing to ecosystem respiration (Reco) and CH4, while we continuously monitored soil temperature and water table (WT) level from June 2017 to January 2019. Our results showed a major difference in the physico-chemical parameters, which in turn affected C dynamics, especially CH4. Methane effluxes were higher in fire-affected areas (7.8 ± 2.2 mg CH4 m−2 hr−1) compared to the intact PSF (4.0 ± 2.0 mg CH4 m−2 hr−1) due to prolonged higher WT and more optimal methanogenesis conditions. On the other hand, we did not find significant differences in Reco between burnt (432 ± 83 mg CO2 m−2 hr−1) and intact PSF (359 ± 76 mg CO2 m−2 hr−1). Radiocarbon analysis showed overall no significant difference between intact and burnt PSF with a modern signature for both CO2 and CH4 fluxes implying a microbial preference for the more labile C fraction in the peat matrix

Elevated methane flux in a tropical peatland post-fire is linked to depth-dependent changes in peat microbiome assembly

10.1038/s41522-024-00478-9npj Biofilms and Microbiomes10