Kajar Köster

Research interests: Disturbances (fire, wind, reindeer grazing, insects, etc.) and biogeochemistry, carbon dynamics, greenhouse gas emissions, pyrogenic matter formation and post-fire transport (by water), post-disturbance changes in biogeochemical processes, etc.

My research deals with questions how the northern ecosystems respond to climate change, the changes in land-use, and the changes in disturbance dynamics. My current research focusses on how northern ecosystems respond to changes in fire dynamics and other disturbances, and what are the consequences on the formation of greenhouse gas, volatile organic compound, pyrogenic carbon, and soot emissions. The research uses a wide scope of measurements with extensive field-based measurements including experimental and natural fires and detailed process-level studies on the effects of fires on the formation of particles using the existing laboratories in UEF. The work will link disturbance related studies to plant ecology, biogeochemistry and atmospheric sciences, and will improve predictions of ecosystem responses to a changing climate, and helps to understand possible tipping points in the environment (e.g. transitions of ecosystems from carbon sinks to carbon sources).