Mr Matt Kent

Biography

"I am a doctoral researcher in the Environment, Earth and Ecosystems department of CEPSAR at The Open University. My PhD title is ""Greenhouse gas evasion from channels draining intact and deforested tropical peatlands"" and my project supervisors are Vince Gauci (Open University), Sue Page (University of Leicester), Sunitha Pangala (Open University) and Chris Evans (Centre for Ecology and Hydrology). Currently, I am investigating the effect that deforestation and drainage has on tropical peat swamp forests, specifically in terms of the greenhouse gases that are emitted from the channels that drain them. This investigation includes between-season and pre- and post-El Niño comparisons, the latter with a view to better understand the effects of a severe fire season. I also am looking at the seasonal geochemistry of the channels and the degradability and ultimate fate of dissolved organic carbon within these channels. These data will feed in to models of the long-term instability of degraded peat swamp forests and allow for the modelling of carbon loss from the ecosystem over time. I did my undergraduate degree at Bangor University under the tutelage of Chris Freeman, and worked as a research assistant on several projects at the Wolfson Carbon Caputure Laboratory. Here I investigated factors that influence activity of the ubiquitous biodegrading enzyme, phenol oxidase, also known as the ""enzymic latch"" due its pivotal role in enhancing breakdown of recalcitrant organic carbon, particularly in peat soils. This work also included my final year project which investigated some of the physicochemical factors constraining various biodegrading enzymes in intact and deforested Bornean peat swamp forest soils. I have also worked as a sediment ecology research assistant at the School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University and served aboard the RV Prince Madog on research cruises to the Irish Sea. During my time at Bangor University, I was awarded a 1st-class honours, the Pen-y-Ffridd Prize and held three society presidencies over two years, one culminating in the university's Academic Society of the Year award."

Research Interest

My primary research interests relate to tropical peat swamp forest ecosystems in Borneo, specifically their ecological functioning and biogeochemistry.