This project is part of the 2030 Plan for a Green Economy of the Government of Quebec, to avoid the destruction and degradation of terrestrial carbon reservoirs. In Quebec, wetlands cover 12.5% of the land area, and in the south of the province these large carbon reservoirs are strongly impacted by anthropogenic activities such as
agriculture and urban development. Wetland conservation and management are important nature-based solutions to mitigate climate change.
This PhD project aims to map wetland carbon stocks (soils and aboveground vegetation) in southern Quebec using geospatial tools (e.g. ArcGIS Pro, machine learning, satellite imagery). This project will be linked to the Can-Peat project, a pan-Canadian carbon stock mapping. Such carbon maps will become a fundamental tool to
improve wetland conservation and management strategies and will allow for the quantification of carbon losses caused by the destruction or alteration of these ecosystems. This project will identify and map wetland carbon hot spots in order to prioritize their conservation.
The project:
- Synthesis of available datasets to quantify known soil and biomass carbon stocks (e.g. organic layer thickness, soil organic carbon density, forest inventories).
- Integration of carbon stock data from field inventories conducted by the MELCCFP (Ministère de l’environnement, de la luMe contre le changement climatique, de la faune et des parcs, Québec).
- Field campaigns for the acquisition of new data and model validation.
- Spatial modeling of carbon stocks based on available wetland maps.
The ideal candidate will have:
- MSc degree in physical geography, biology, environmental sciences or related fields.
- Strong experience with geospatial tools (e.g., ArcGIS, QGIS, Python).
- Experience in field data collection.
- Experience in large database analysis.
Start date: summer 2023
Stipend: 27,500$ CAD/year for 3 years
To apply: Please send the documents listed below in a single PDF file by email to garneau.michelle [at] uqam.ca (Michelle Garneau)
- Cover letter
- Curriculum vitae
- University transcripts
- Contact information for 2-3 references