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Harvard Forest Research Project 2024

• Title: Measuring tree stem methane emissions with novel, low-cost automated chambers
• Principal investigator: Jonathan Gewirtzman (jonathan.gewirtzman@yale.edu)
• Institution: Yale University
• Primary contact: Jonathan Gewirtzman (jonathan.gewirtzman@yale.edu)
• Team members: Jackie Matthes
• Abstract:

  Non-wetland natural emissions are the largest source of uncertainty in the global methane budget, and tree stems have recently been recognized as potentially important sites of methane release to the atmosphere. Despite this, methane budgets are underexplored in forest ecosystems. This work will build on efforts to quantify methane emission rates and understand spatiotemporal variability in the forests of the Northeast US, by piloting novel automated chambers for stem and soil fluxes at Harvard Forest, and leveraging long-term environmental monitoring infrastructure to build understanding of underlying drivers and ecosystem relevance.