UCD Research: Agriculture & Food Science

People

Dr Matthew Saunders B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Contact Details

Title	Post Doc Research Fellow Lvl Ii
Address	School of Agriculture & Food Science Science Centre - West Belfield Dublin 4
Telephone:	Ext. 2260
Email:	ei.dcu@srednuas.wehttam

Biography:

July 2007 - Postdoctoral research assistant at University College Dublin, School of Biology and Environmental Science. I am currently working on the Ecosystem Processes component of the COFORD funded Carbifor II project, and am investigating the impact of stand age, yield class and forest management on greenhouse gas fluxes.

January 2006-June 2007. Postdoctoral research assistant at Trinity College Dublin, School of Natural Sciences. During this period I worked on an EPA funded research fellowship entitled "Accounting for greenhouse gas sources and sinks in major Irish land use categories: contributing to a co-ordinated centre for flux measurements (CCFLUX)". My primary contribution to this project was the assessment of the carbon budget of a spring barley crop under different tillage management (convention and non-inversion tillage) and an extensively managed grassland. My responsibilities were to manage and maintain the daily operations of the eddy covariance towers and associated phenological and soil based measurements, to collate, gap-fill and statistically analyse the EC data produced and submit this data to the EPA and CarboEurope-IP databases.

2002-2005. Ph.D. Trinity College Dublin, School of Natural Sciences. Thesis title "Fluxes of Carbon and Water in Cyperus papyrus L. tropical wetlands". This study utilised eddy covariance techniques to measure fluxes of carbon dioxide and water vapour between papyrus vegetation and the atmosphere in a wetland located on the Northern shore of Lake Victoria, Uganda. This research was part of a larger 5th Framework EU project entitled ECOTOOLS; Tools for wetland ecosystem resource management in Eastern Africa.

2001-2002. M.SC Environmental Science. Trinity College Dublin, School of Natural Sciences. Thesis title "Methane emissions from an artificial papyrus wetland: An investigation into ebullition and plant mediated transport". This project used a constructed papyrus wetland to estimate rates of methane release through both the plant culm and across the air-water interface.

1996-1999. B.Sc Environmental Science. University of East Anglia. Undergraduate thesis title " An investigation into the tolerance of commercial crop cultivars to salt stress". This thesis investigated the tolerance of Triticum aestivum and Hordeum vulgare to increasing salt stress, by studying plant productivity and the compartmentalisation of potassium and chloride ions in the root and shoot structures of the plants.

Research Interests

Climate Change
Greenhouse Gases
Eddy covariance
Sustainable Development
Tropical Wetlands
Ecosystem Resource Management
Net Ecosystem Productivity

Book Chapters

S.Loiselle, A.Cozar, A.van Dam, F.Kansiime, P.Kelderman, M.Saunders, S.Simonit.; (2006) 'Tools for Wetland Ecosystem Resource Management in East Africa: Focus on the Lake Victoria Papyrus wetlands' In: Verhoeven, J., Beltman, B., Bobbink, R., Whigham, D (eds). Wetlands and Natural Resource Management. Berlin: Springer. [Details]

Peer Reviewed Journals

Saunders, M., Kansiime, F., Jones, M; (2012) 'Agricultural encroachment: implications for carbon sequestration in tropical African wetlands'. Global Change Biology, . [DOI] [Details]

Saunders, M, Tobin, B, Black, K, Gioria, M, Nieuwenhuis, M, Osborne, B.; (2012) 'Thinning effects on the net ecosystem carbon exchange of a Sitka spruce forest are temperature-dependent'. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, . [DOI] [Details]

Olajuyigbe, S., Tobin, B., Saunders, M., Nieuwenhuis, M (2012) 'Forest thinning and soil respiration in a Sitka spruce forest in Ireland'. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 157 :86-95. [Details]

Kindler, R., Siemens, J., Kaiser, K., Walmsley, D.C., Bernhofer, C., Buchmann, N., Cellier, P., Eugster, W., Gleixner, G., Grunwald, T., Heim, A., Ibrom, A., Jones, S.K., Jones, M., Klumpp, K., Kutsch, W., Larsen, K.S., Lehuger, S., Loubet, B., McKenzie, R., Moors, E., Osborne, B., Pilegaard, K., Rebmann, C., Saunders, M., Schmidt, M.W.I., Schrumpf, M., Seyfferth, J., Skiba, U., Soussana, J.F., Sutton, M.A., Tefs, C., Vowinckel, B., Zeeman, M.J. and Kaupenjohann, M.; (2011) 'Dissolved carbon leaching from soil is a crucial component of the net ecosystem carbon balance'. Global Change Biology, 17 :1167-1185. [DOI] [Details]

Walmsley, D.C., Siemens, J., Kindler, R., Kirwan, L., Kaiser, K., Saunders, M., Kaupenjohann, M. and Osborne, B.A. ; (2011) 'Dissolved carbon leaching from an Irish cropland soil is increased by reduced tillage and cover cropping'. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 142 (3-4):393-402. [DOI] [Details]

Osborne, B., Saunders, M., Walmsley, D., Jones, M.J. and Smith, P.; (2010) 'Key Questions and uncertainties associated with the cropland greenhouse gas balance'. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 139 (3):293-301. [Details]
Smith, P., Lanigan. G., Kutsch, W.L., Buchmann, N., Eugster, W., Aubinet, M., Ceschia, E., Beziat, P., Yeluripati, J.B., Osborne, B., Moors, E.J., Brut, A., Wattenbach, M., Saunders, M. and Jones, M.; (2010) 'Measurements necessary for assessing the net ecosystem carbon budget of croplands'. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 139 (3):302-315. [Details]
Kutsch, W.L., Aubinet, M., Nuchmann, N., Smith, P., Osborne, B., Eugster, W., Wattenbach, M., Schrumpf, M., Schulze, E.D., Tomelleri, E., Ceschia, E., Bernhofer, C., Beziat, P., Carrara, A., Di Tommasi, T., Grunwald, T., Jones, M., Magliulo, V., Marloie, O., Moureaux, C., Olioso, A., Sanz, M.J., Saunders, M., Sogaard, H. and Ziegler, W.; (2010) 'The net biome production of full crop rotations in Europe'. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment, 139 (3):336-345. [Details]
Davis, PA,Brown, JC,Saunders, M,Lanigan, G,Wright, E,Fortune, T,Burke, J,Connolly, J,Jones, MB,Osborne, B; (2010) 'Assessing the effects of agricultural management practices on carbon fluxes: Spatial variation and the need for replicated estimates of Net Ecosystem Exchange'. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 150 :564-574. [DOI] [Details]
Moors, EJ,Jacobs, C,Jans, W,Supit, I,Kutsch, WL,Bernhofer, C,Beziat, P,Buchmann, N,Carrara, A,Ceschia, E,Elbers, J,Eugster, W,Kruijt, B,Loubet, B,Magliulo, E,Moureaux, C,Olioso, A,Saunders, M,Soegaard, H; (2010) 'Variability in carbon exchange of European croplands'. AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, 139 :325-335. [DOI] [Details]
Eugster, W,Moffat, AM,Ceschia, E,Aubinet, M,Ammann, C,Osborne, B,Davis, PA,Smith, P,Jacobs, C,Moors, E,Le Dantec, V,Beziat, P,Saunders, M,Jans, W,Grunwald, T,Rebmann, C,Kutsch, WL,Czerny, R,Janous, D,Moureaux, C,Dufranne, D,Carrara, A,Magliulo, V,Di Tommasi, P,Olesen, JE,Schelde, K,Olioso, A,Bernhofer, C,Cellier, P,Larmanou, E,Loubet, B,Wattenbach, M,Marloie, O,Sanz, MJ,Sogaard, H,Buchmann, N; (2010) 'Management effects on European cropland respiration'. AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT, 139 :346-362. [DOI] [Details]
Davis, P.A., Clifton Browne, J., Saunders, M., Lanigan, G., Wright, E., Fortune, T., Burke, J., Connolly, J., Jones, M.B. and Osborne, B.A.; (2010) 'Assessing the effects of agricultural management practices on carbon fluxes: Spatial variation and the need for replicated extimates of Net Ecosystem exchange'. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 150 (4):564-574. [Details]
Luyssaert, S., Reichstein, M., Schulze, E.-D., Janssens, I.A., Law, B.E., Papale, D., Dragoni, D., Goulden, M., Granier, A., Kutsch, W.L., Matteucci, G., Moors, E., Munger, J.W., Pilegaard,K., Saunders, M. and Falge, E. M.; (2009) 'Towards a consistency cross-check of eddy covariance flux based and biometric estimates of ecosystem carbon balance'. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 23 . [DOI] [Details]
F. Albanito, M. Saunders, M. B. Jones; (2009) 'Automated diffusion chambers to monitor diurnal and seasonal dynamics of the soil CO2 concentration profile'. EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF SOIL SCIENCE, 60 :507-514. [DOI] [Details]
Kansiime, F., Saunders, M. and Loiselle, S.; (2007) 'Functioning and dynamics of wetland vegetation of Lake Victoria: an overview'. Wetlands Ecology and Management, 15 (6):443-451. [Details]
Saunders, M.J., Jones, M.B. and Kansiime, F.; (2007) 'Carbon and water cycles in tropical papyrus wetlands'. Wetlands Ecology and Management, 15 (6):489-498. [Details]
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Conference Publications

Nicolau, M. , Saunders, M., O'Neill, M., Brabazon, A. and Osborne, B. ; (2012) Evolving Interpolating Models of Net Ecosystem CO2 Exchange Using Grammatical Evolution 15th European Conference on Genetic Programming (EuroGP 2012) Malaga, Spain, , 11-APR-12 - 13-APR-12 , pp.134-145 [Details]

Black, K., Xenakis, G.,, Tene, A., Nieuwenhuis, M. Saunders, M. and Ray, D. ; (2009) Development of strategic adaptive change tools for Irish forestry (Abstract) European Forest Institute Annual Conference Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland, , 03-SEP-09 - 05-SEP-09 , pp.9-10 [Details]

Saunders, M., Lanigan, G., Davis, P., Osborne, B. A., Williams, M., Burke, J., & Jones, M. ; (2006) Estimating the carbon sequestration potential of major Irish land use categories; net ecosystem productivity of arable and grassland ecosystems Irish Plant Scientists Meeting Galway, , 10-APR-06 - 12-APR-06 [Details]

Conference Contributions

Saunders, M., Black, K., Tobin, B., Osborne, B.; (2008) The impact of thinning on net ecosystem carbon exchange from a Sitka spruce forest. [Oral Presentation], Irish Plant Scientists Meeting, NUI Maynooth , 26-MAR-08 - 28-MAR-08.

Saunders, M., Osborne, B., Lanigan, G., Jones, M., Nagy, M., Davis, P., Clifton-Brown, J., Burke, J.; (2007) Carbon sequestration and Irish arable ecosystems: Impacts of tillage management and cover cropping. [Poster Presentation], CarboEurope-IP Annual Meeting, Poznan, Poland , 08-OCT-07 - 12-OCT-07.

Jones, M and Saunders, M.; (2007) Tropical wetlands as carbon sinks. [Poster Presentation], American Geophysical Union, San Francisco , 10-DEC-07 - 14-DEC-07.

Saunders, M., Lanigan, G., Davis, P., Clifton-Brown, J., Osborne, B., Abdalla, M., Williams, M., Burke, J., Jones, M.; (2007) Greenhouse gas emissions from arable ecosystems; an Irish perspective. [Oral Presentation], United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Bonn , 09-MAY-07 - 11-MAY-07.

Saunders, M., Lanigan, G., Davis, P., Osborne, B., Williams, M., Burke, J., Jones, M.; (2006) Estimating the carbon sequestration potential of major Irish land use categories: Net ecosystem productivity of arable and grassland ecosystems. [Oral Presentation], Irish Plant Scientists Meeting, NUI Galway , 10-APR-06 - 12-APR-06.

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