Congratulations to Freddie Draper who passed his viva on Friday with flying colours. Freddie’s thesis examined the modern and long-term ecology of Amazonian peatlands using a combination of permanent forest plots and pollen analysis of peat cores. By increasing the number of peatlands measured and through combining different remote sensing products, his work has also led to a more refined estimate of the size and distribution of peatland carbon stocks in northeast Peru, following on from work conducted by Outi Lahteenoja at the University of Turku.
Freddie published his study on carbon stocks in Peruvian peatlands last year, and it has already led to a $6 million investment from the Green Climate Fund which will support peatland conservation efforts. In recognition of this, Freddie was recently made postgraduate researcher of the year 2015.
Since handing in his thesis Freddie has been back into the field (above) to help with a project led by Dr Sophie Fauset examining light levels in the Atlantic forests of Brazil. Freddie will also be heading back to Peru in January to work on Amazonian peatlands and their conservation with researchers at the Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonia Peruana, amongst others. Well done Freddie and good luck with your future exploits!