Dr Lisa Belyea

Dr Lisa Belyea, BSc Hons (Carleton), MSc (Waterloo), PhD (London)
Reader in Biogeosciences

School of Geography
Queen Mary, University of London
Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
Phone: 020 7882 2781
Email: l.belyea@qmul.ac.uk

Research interests:


Peatlands landscape

My research interests focus on two major themes: biogeochemical cycling and spatiotemporal dynamics of ecosystems, in both cases with empirical work concentrated mainly (but not exclusively) on peatlands.


Peatlands

Globally, peatlands have sequestered about one-third of all soil carbon, but their future role in the global carbon cycle – and possible feedbacks with the global climate system – are highly uncertain. A fundamental understanding of how internal processes interact with external forcing is essential to predicting the spatiotemporal dynamics of these ecosystems, including their responses to environmental change and direct human intervention. My research seeks to answer some key questions:

  • Are there thresholds for rapid change in ecosystem structure and function?
  • How do internally-driven processes and externally-driven forces interact to control carbon cycling?
  • What are the local rules of interaction between landscape elements that determine large-scale dynamics?

The results of my research have demonstrated that peatland carbon cycling and spatial structure are highly contingent on local factors and interactions, and may undergo abrupt and catastrophic change in response to weak regional forcing. These findings contribute to an emerging, fundamental shift in ecological thinking, in which ecosystems are conceptualised as ‘complex adaptive systems’.

Postgraduate supervision:

Postgraduate students:
If you are interested in doing a PhD or Masters in my research area, please send me by email a CV and a brief summary of your idea for a project.

Current PhD students
Michelle Collins – Hydrological and biogeochemical controls on mercury cycling in managed realignment sites (second supervisor)

Kieran Stanley – The impact of flooding regime and floodwater chemistry on greenhouse gas emissions from floodplain fens (second supervisor)

Past PhD students
Paul Morris – Modelling peatlands as complex adaptive systems

Nick Cutler – Ecosystem development on Icelandic lava fields

Past Masters students
Phil Francis – Close-range photogrammetry using consumer-grade digital cameras for environmental research

Ishikawa Hiroshi – Modelling the current and future distribution of peatlands in Canada

Cláudia Franco – How does spatial distribution of birds in Portugal relate to environmental factors?

Publications:

Edited books

  • Baird, Andrew J., Belyea, Lisa R., Comas, Xavier, Reeve, A.S., and Slater, Lee D. (Editors) 2009. Carbon Cycling in Northern Peatlands. Geophysical Monograph Series 184. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C. 299 pages.

Book chapters

  • Baird, A.J., Belyea, L.R., and Morris, P. 2009. Upscaling of peatland-atmosphere fluxes of methane: small-scale heterogeneity in process rates and the pitfalls of “bucket-and-slab” models. In: Carbon Cycling in Northern Peatlands. Geophysical Monograph Series 184. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C. pp. 37-53. [e-print available on request]
  • Belyea, L.R. 2009. Nonlinear dynamics of peatlands and potential feedbacks on the climate system. In: Carbon Cycling in Northern Peatlands. Geophysical Monograph Series 184. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C. pp. 5-18. [e-print available on request]
  • Baird, A.J., Comas, X., Slater, L.D., Belyea, L.R., and Reeve, A.S. 2009. Understanding carbon cycling in northern peatlands: recent developments and future prospects. In: Carbon Cycling in Northern Peatlands. Geophysical Monograph Series 184. American Geophysical Union, Washington, D.C. pp. 1-3.
  • Belyea, L.R. 2004. Beyond ecological filters: feedback networks in the assembly and restoration of community structure. In: Assembly Rules and Restoration Ecology. Bridging the Gap between Theory and Practice. (V.M. Temperton, R. Hobbs, T. Nuttle and S. Halle, eds), Island Press, Washington. pp. 115-131.
  • Belyea, L.R. and Clymo, R.S. 1999. Do hollows control the rate of peat bog growth?  In:  Patterned Mires and Mire Pools (V. Standen, J. Tallis and R. Meade, eds), British Ecological Society, London.  pp. 55-65.

Journal articles

  • Morris, P.J., Baird, A.J., and Belyea, L.R. The DigiBog peatland development model 2: Ecohydrological simulations in 2-D. Ecohydrology (Early View online DOI: 10.1002/eco.230). [e-print available on request]
  • Baird, A.J., Morris, P.J., and Belyea, L.R. The DigiBog peatland development model 1: Rationale, conceptual model, and hydrological basis. Ecohydrology (Early View online DOI: 10.1002/eco.229). [e-print available on request]
  • Morris, P.J., Belyea, L.R., and Baird, A.J. 2011. Ecohydrological feedbacks in peatland development: a theoretical modelling study. Journal of Ecology 99: 1190-1201. [e-print available on request]
  • Eppinga, M.B., Rietkerk, M., Belyea, L.R., Nilsson, M.B., De Ruiter, P.C., and Wassen, M.J. 2010. Resource contrast in patterned peatlands increases along a climatic gradient. Ecology 91(8): 2344-2355. [e-print available on request]
  • Cutler, N.A., Belyea, L.R., and Dugmore, A.J. 2008. Spatial patterns of microsite colonisation on two young lava flows, Mt Hekla, Iceland. Journal of Vegetation Science 19(2): 277-286. [e-print available on request]
  • Cutler, N.A., Belyea, L.R., and Dugmore, A.J. 2008. The spatiotemporal dynamics of a primary succession.Journal of Ecology 96(2): 231-246. [e-print available on request]
  • Belyea, L.R. 2007. Revealing the Emperor’s new clothes: niche-based palaeoenvironmental reconstruction in the light of recent ecological theory. The Holocene 17(5): 683-688. [e-print available on request]
  • Belyea, L.R. 2007. Climatic and topographic constraints on the abundance of bog pools. Hydrological Processes 21(5): 675-687. [e-print available on request]
  • Belyea, L.R. and Baird, A.J. 2006. Beyond “the limits to peat bog growth”: cross-scale feedback in peatland development. Ecological Monographs 76(3): 299-322. [e-print available on request]
  • Lancaster, J. and Belyea, L.R. 2006. Defining the limits to local density: alternative views of abundance-environment relationships. Freshwater Biology 51: 783-796. [e-print available on request]
  • Belyea, L.R. and Malmer, N. 2004. Carbon sequestration in peatland: patterns and mechanisms of response to climate change. Global Change Biology 10: 1043-1052. [e-print available on request]
  • Belyea, L.R. and Lancaster, J. 2002. Inferring landscape dynamics of bog pools from scaling relationships and spatial patterns. Journal of Ecology 90: 223-234. [e-print available on request]
  • Belyea, L.R. and Clymo, R.S. 2001. Feedback control of the rate of peat formation.  Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences 268: 1315-1321. [e-print available on request]
  • Belyea, L.R., and Lancaster, J. 1999. Assembly rules within a contingent ecology. Oikos 86: 402-416. [e-print available on request]
  • Belyea, L.R. 1999. A novel indicator of reducing conditions and water-table depth in mires. Functional Ecology 13:431-434.
  • Robertson, A.L., Lancaster, J., Belyea, L.R. & Hildrew, A.G. 1997. Hydraulic habitat and the assemblage structure of stream benthic microcrustacea. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 16: 562-575.
  • Lancaster, J., and Belyea, L.R. 1997. Nested hierarchies and scale-dependence of flow refugium use.  Journal of the North American Benthological Society 16: 221-238.
  • Belyea, L.R. 1996. Separating the effects of litter quality and microenvironment on decomposition rates in a patterned peatland. Oikos 77: 529-539.
  • Belyea, L.R., and Warner, B.G. 1996. Temporal scale and the accumulation of peat in a Sphagnum bog. Canadian Journal of Botany 74: 366-377.
  • Belyea, L.R., and Warner, B.G. 1994. Dating of the near-surface layer of a peatland in northwestern Ontario, Canada. Boreas 23: 259-269.
  • Aravena, R., Warner, B.G., Charman, D.J., Belyea, L.R., Mathur, S.P., and Dinel, H. 1993. Carbon isotopic composition of deep carbon gases in an ombrogenous peatland, northwestern Ontario, Canada. Radiocarbon 35: 271-276.