Contact Dr Nick Girkin
- Tel: +44 (0) 1234 754177
- Email: N.T.Girkin@cranfield.ac.uk
- Twitter: @NickGirkin
- ORCID
- Google Scholar
- ResearchGate
Areas of expertise
- Soil
- Soil Resources
- Sustainable Land Systems
Background
I am a plant and soil ecologist and biogeochemist, interested in understanding controls over greenhouse gas emissions, and carbon and nutrient cycling across land use and management intensity gradients. I am also interested in understanding how the impacts of climate and land use change will affect these controls. I have a particular focus on understanding how plants regulate both soil properties and the production and emission of greenhouse gases.
I work across a range of spatial scales, from studying large scale-ecosystem processes to novel laboratory techniques to understand underlying pathways and mechanisms. We have recently expanded our capacity for measuring various components of soil health and chemistry, biology, and greenhouse gas emissions. I use a range of new and novel techniques including stable isotope labelling (13C and 15N) and novel organic matter characterisations (e.g. Rock-Eval pyrolysis and FTIR), integrated through modelling.
Research opportunities
Currently, there are no fully-funded postdoc or PhD studentships available. I am keen to support self-funded researchers, or support applications for funding across a range of topics including:
- Greenhouse gas emissions and soil carbon
- Regenerative agriculture
- Ecosystem climate resilience
- Peatland, forest, and grassland carbon and nutrient cycling
Please get in touch to discuss further.
Current activities
I am interested in understanding how plants regulate carbon and nutrient cycles, including the emissions of greenhouse gases and carbon sequestration. A recent focus has been on establishing a framework that can underpin low emission crop varieties. This framework focusses on assessing how crop traits regulate the soils around them, and subsequent greenhouse gas emissions. By understanding these interactions, we can ultimately identify targets for selective breeding programmes to develop low emission agriculture.
I also have wide-ranging research interests in wetlands and peatlands, including natural and constructed wetlands in the UK, and in the tropics, including Central America, Central Africa, and Southeast Asia. This includes research into distribution, carbon sequestration and storage, the impacts of management interventions, and assessing the spatial and temporal variability of greenhouse gas emissions.
I lead the Sustainable Plantations and Orchard Crops working group, engaging farmers, businesses and NGOs in addressing environmental sustainability challenges in tropical agroecosystems, and how benefits can be translated to benefit smallholder farmers.
Current and recent projects include:
Regenerative agriculture for the plantation sector: identifying and delivering shared environmental solutions (NERC, 2022 - 2025, PI)
Measuring and modelling catchment scale carbon flows in cocoa plantations (Sue White Fund for Africa, 2023 - 2026, PI)
Developing low-cost monitoring for tropical forests and peatlands (NERC, 2022 - 2026, CoI)
Net Zero Crop Varieties: varietal controls over greenhouse gas emissions in linseed (Premium Crops, 2022-2025, PI)
Nature-based solutions for wastewater treatment (EPSRC & water utilities, 2021-2024, PI)
Central American Blue Carbon: quantifying carbon cycling in Central American mangroves (Royal Society, 2021-2023, PI)
Mapping the extent and vulnerability of Central American peatland carbon stocks (Royal Geographical Society, Ralph Brown Expedition Award, 2020-2023, PI)
Assessing carbon storage in the Cambridgeshire Fens (Wildlife Trusts, 2021 - 2022, PI)
HotPeat: Temperature sensitivity of tropical peatland greenhouse gas production (Royal Geographical Society, 2019-2021, PI)
CongoPeat: Past, Present and Future of the Peatlands of the Central Congo Basin (NERC, 2018 - 2023, Associate Researcher)
Clients
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Research England
Premium Crops
Water Utilities
Defra
The Wildlife Trusts
The Broads Authority
Royal Geographical Society
The Royal Society
Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF)
Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF)
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Publications
Articles In Journals
- Garcin Y, Schefuß E, Dargie GC, Hawthorne D, Lawson IT, Sebag D, Biddulph GE, Crezee B, Bocko YE, Ifo SA, Wenina YEM, Mbemba M, Ewango CEN, Emba O, Pierre B, Tabu JK, Tyrrell G, Young DM, Gassier G, Girkin NT, Vane CH, Adatte T, Baird AJ, Boom A, Gulliver P, Morris PJ, Page SE, Sjögersten S & Lewis SL (2022) Hydroclimatic vulnerability of peat carbon in the central Congo Basin, Nature, 612 277-282. Dataset/s: 10.23708/FO2HGM, 10.1594/PANGAEA.938019
- Cole LE, Åkesson CM, Hapsari KA, Hawthorne D, Roucoux KH, Girkin NT, Cooper HV, Ledger MJ, O’Reilly P & Thornton SA (2022) Tropical peatlands in the anthropocene: lessons from the past, Anthropocene, 37 (March) Article No. 100324.
- Crezee B, Dargie GC, Ewango CE, Mitchard ET, Emba B O, Kanyama T J, Bola P, Ndjango JB, Girkin NT, Bocko YE, Ifo SA, Hubau W, Seidensticker D, Batumike R, Imani G, Cuní-Sanchez A, Kiahtipes CA, Lebamba J, Wotzka H-P, Bean H, Baker TR, Baird AJ, Boom A, Morris PJ, Page SE, Lawson IT & Lewis SL (2022) Mapping peat thickness and carbon stocks of the central Congo Basin using field data, Nature Geoscience, 15 (8) 639-644.
- Girkin NT, Cooper HV, Ledger MJ, O’Reilly P, Thornton SA, Åkesson A, Cole LE, Hapsari KA, Hawthorne D & Roucoux KH (2022) Tropical peatlands in the Anthropocene: the present and the future, Anthropocene, 40 (December) Article No. 100354.
- Dhandapani S, Girkin NT, Evers S, Ritz K & Sjögersten S (2022) Immediate environmental impacts of transformation of an oil palm intercropping to a monocropping system in a tropical peatland, Mires and Peat, 28 Article No. 7.
- O’Neill RM, Duff AM, Brennan FP, Gebremichael AW, Girkin NT, Lanigan GJ, Krol DJ, Wall DP, Renou-Wilson F, Müller C, Richards KG & Deveautour C (2022) Linking long‑term soil phosphorus management to microbial communities involved in nitrogen reactions, Biology and Fertility of Soils, 58 (4) 389-402.
- Rebello R, Burgess PJ & Girkin NT (2022) Identifying sustainable nitrogen management practices for tea plantations, Nitrogen, 3 (1) 43-57.
- Dhandapani S, Girkin NT & Evers S (2022) Spatial variability of surface peat properties and carbon emissions in a tropical peatland oil palm monoculture during a dry season, Soil Use and Management, 38 (1) 381-395.
- Biddulph GE, Bocko YE, Bola P, Crezee B, Dargie GC, Emba O, Georgiou S, Girkin N, Hawthorne D, Jovani-Sancho AJ, Kanyama JT, Mampouya WE, Mbemba M, Sciumbata M & Tyrrell G (2022) Current knowledge on the Cuvette Centrale peatland complex and future research directions, Bois et Forets des Tropiques, 350 (350) 3-15.
- Cooper HV, Sjögersten S, Lark RM, Girkin NT, Vane CH, Calonego JC, Rosolem C & Mooney SJ (2021) Long-term zero-tillage enhances the protection of soil carbon in tropical agriculture, European Journal of Soil Science, 72 (6) 2477-2492.
- Loisel J, Gallego-Sala AV, Amesbury MJ, Magnan G, Anshari G, Beilman DW, Benavides CJ, Blewett J, Camill P, Charman DJ, Chawchai S, Hedgpeth A, Kleinen T, Korhola A, Large D, Mansilla CA, Müller J, van Bellen S, West JB, Yu Z, Bubier JL, Garneau M, Moore T, Sannel ABK, Page S, Väliranta M, Bechtold M, Brovkin V, Cole LES, Chanton JP, Christensen TR, Davies MA, De Vleeschouwer F, Finkelstein SA, Frolking S, Gałka M, Gandois L, Girkin N, Harris LI, Heinemeyer A, Hoyt AM, Jones MC, Joos F, Juutinen S, Kaiser K, Lacourse T, Lamentowicz M, Larmola T, Leifeld J, Lohila A, Milner AM, Minkkinem K, Moss P, Naafs BDA, Nichols J, O’Donnell J, Payne R, Philben M, Piilo S, Quillet A, Ratnayake AS, Roland TP, Sjögersten S, Sonnentag O, Swindles GT, Swinnen W, Talbot J, Treat C, Valach AC & Wu J (2021) Expert assessment of future vulnerability of the global peatland carbon sink, Nature Climate Change, 11 (1) 70-77.
- Girkin NT, Lopes dos Santos RA, Vane CH, Ostle N, Turner BL & Sjögersten S (2020) Peat properties, dominant vegetation type and microbial community structure in a tropical peatland, Wetlands, 40 (5) 1367-1377.
- Girkin N, Vane CH, Turner B, Ostle N & Sjogersten S (2020) Root oxygen mitigates methane fluxes in tropical peatlands, Environmental Research Letters, 15 (6) Article No. 064013. Dataset/s: 10.17862/cranfield.rd.12032145
- O'Neill R, Girkin N, Krol D, Wall D, Brennan F, Lanigan G, Renou-Wilson F, Müller C & Richards K (2020) The effect of carbon availability on N2O emissions is moderated by soil phosphorus, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 142 (March) Article No. 107726.
- Dhandapani S, Girkin NT, Evers S, Ritz K & Sjögersten S (2020) Is intercropping an environmentally-wise alternative to established oil palm monoculture in tropical peatlands?, Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 3 Article No. 70.
- Girkin N, Dhandapani S, Evers S, Ostle N, Turner B & Sjögersten S (2020) Interactions between labile carbon, temperature and land use regulate carbon dioxide and methane production in tropical peat, Biogeochemistry, 147 (1) 87-97.
- Girkin N, Vane C, Cooper H, Moss-Hayes V, Craigon J, Turner B, Ostle N & Sjögersten S (2019) Spatial variability of organic matter properties determines methane fluxes in a tropical forested peatland, Biogeochemistry, 142 (2) 231-245.
- Cooper H, Vane C, Evers S, Aplin P, Girkin N & Sjögersten S (2019) From peat swamp forest to oil palm plantations: The stability of tropical peatland carbon, Geoderma, 342 109-117.
- Somers C, Girkin N, Rippey B, Lanigan G & Richards K (2019) The effects of urine nitrogen application rate on nitrogen transformations in grassland soils, Journal of Agricultural Science, 157 (6) 515-522.
- Somers C, Girkin N, Rippey B, Lanigan G & Richards K (2019) The effects of urine nitrogen application rate on nitrogen transformations in grassland soils, Journal of Agricultural Science, 157 (6) 515-522.
- Girkin N, Turner B, Ostle N, Craigon J & Sjögersten S (2018) Root exudate analogues accelerate CO2 and CH4 production in tropical peat, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 117 48-55.
- Girkin N, Turner B, Ostle N & Sjögersten S (2018) Composition and concentration of root exudate analogues regulate greenhouse gas fluxes from tropical peat, Soil Biology and Biochemistry, 127 (December) 280-285.
- Upton A, Vane C, Girkin N, Turner B & Sjögersten S (2018) Does litter input determine carbon storage and peat organic chemistry in tropical peatlands?, Geoderma, 326 76-87.
- Girkin N, Turner B, Ostle N & Sjögersten S (2018) Root-derived CO2 flux from a tropical peatland, Wetlands Ecology and Management, 26 (5) 985-991.
