Hizbullah Jamali
Department of Forest and Ecosystem Science
The University of Melbourne, Burnley Campus
500 Yarra Boulevard, Richmond, VIC 3121, Australia
Email: h.jamali@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au
Degree
PhD
Project title
Role of termites in greenhouse gas fluxes in savanna ecosystems of the Northern Territory, Australia
Supervisors
Dr Stefan Arndt
Dr Steve Livesley
Project outline
The atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are increasing and contribute significantly to the observed climate change. One possible significant biogenic source for these gases is mound-building termites, which occur on about two-thirds of the earth’s land surface. Termites can emit considerable amounts of methane as part of their digestion. However, the magnitude of these greenhouse gas emissions from termites has not been investigated in detail and has never been studied in the field in the tropical savannas of the Northern Territory, Australia. Tropical savannas cover a quarter of the Australian continent and inhabit the largest population of termites among all the ecosystems. Further, the land use change due to conversion of woodlands into pastures and agricultural lands, and fire has also an indirect impact on the population of termites and consequently on greenhouse gas emissions.
The research, as a part of ARC Linkage Project on Savannas, will investigate the role of termites in greenhouse gas fluxes in the tropical savannas of Northern Territory, Australia.
Link to Postgraduate index page