Project

Ongoing and planned work in this area focuses on fluxes of methane and nitrous oxide from forest soils and from urban and degraded environments, and also on methane and nitrous oxide flux from trees and other plants.

In collaboration with the City of Toronto, the Thomas Lab is currently testing the effects of biochar on City-managed street trees. This research will assess the effects of biochar soil amendments on the four most common species planted on "hard surface" sites in Toronto, including hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), elm (Ulmus spp., mainly U. americana hybrids), and Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus). The biochar in use for this project is created through pyrolysis of wood waste material and has been provided by industry partners Titan Clean Energy Projects and Haliburton Biochar. This study represents the first large-scale designed experiment of biochar effects on street trees globally. More than 200 street trees in Toronto's downtown core are involved in the study.

Long-term stand-level plot network for better scientific understanding and solving applied problems in temperate forest ecosystems.

The Sundarbans area, enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the world’s largest mangrove forest shared between India and Bangladesh supporting 7.2 million people. This site is prone to several natural hazards such as wildfires, storms, erosion, net area loss, and pollution leading to disturbance in ecology and ecosystem services. An integrated approach to protecting the ecosystem from hazards needs to be reconciled by conserving forests in connection to habitat with livelihood improvement and poverty alleviation. This study aims to in-depth analyses of Indian and Bangladesh Sundarbans areas and their comparison with Indonesian mangroves by involving and facilitating interaction among experts from Australia, India, Bangladesh, and Indonesia.

In collaboration with the City of Toronto, the Thomas Lab is currently testing the effects of biochar on City-managed street trees. This research will assess the effects of biochar soil amendments on the four most common species planted on "hard surface" sites in Toronto, including hackberry (Celtis occidentalis), honey locust (Gleditsia triacanthos), elm (Ulmus spp., mainly U. americana hybrids), and Kentucky coffee tree (Gymnocladus dioicus). The biochar in use for this project is created through pyrolysis of wood waste material and has been provided by industry partners Titan Clean Energy Projects and Haliburton Biochar. This study represents the first large-scale designed experiment of biochar effects on street trees globally. More than 200 street trees in Toronto's downtown core are involved in the study.

As a participant in the REDD+ strategy, Bangladesh primarily depends on forests to enhance carbon sequestration. The country’s recently prepared REDD+ readiness roadmap overlooked soil carbon fluxes and the relationship between tree species diversity and carbon pool. It, thus, omits the conservation aspect of the REDD+ and lacks certainty in baseline carbon pool estimates. This study aims to answer how efforts to increase carbon will affect tree species diversity in the forests by exploring the relationships of tree species diversity with above-ground tree carbon and soil organic carbon. To achieve this objective, 100 randomly selected 20m x 20m plots will be established in Lawachara National Park, the country’s one of the most diverse protected areas. In these plots tree species diversity, above-ground tree carbon, soil organic carbon, and soil carbon fluxes will be measured and their relationships with tree species diversity will be determined. The findings of this study will be helpful for the policymakers and scientific understanding of the relationship between diversity and productivity.