The goal of my research is to improve our understanding of how earth’s ecosystems respond to different environmental stressors, including natural occurring and synthetic pollutants as well as greenhouse gases, in the context of climate change. The impact of these stressors on ecosystems greatly affects the health of human beings and our planet. 

 

My research includes investigating changes in pollutant sources and sinks over multiple spatial and temporal scales, physical transport and biogeochemical processes which affect their fate, and interactions between chemical compounds and global climate and environmental changes.

 

The environmental stressors I study are:

• Greenhouse gases: methane (CH₄), carbon dioxide (CO₂), & nitrous oxide (N₂O) in Northern Peatlands (Alaska, US)

 

• Excessive nitrogen compounds in the environment: ammonium and nitrate.

 

• Organic pollutants include legacy contaminants such as organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and brominated flame retardants (PBDEs), as well as emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs), endocrine disrupting compounds, nanomaterials, and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs).

 

• Methylmercury (MeHg).