Antwerp biologist wins award for carbon cycle research

Sara Vicca (pictured) was selected by a jury of science journalists, headed by Jean Paul Van Bendegem, professor in mathematics, philosophy and logic at the Free University of Brussels (VUB). According to a report in Eos, the jury said that “such research, which contributes to a better understanding of the carbon cycle, is of global importance”.

The Eos Pipet is an annual prize awarded by the Flemish science magazine Eos to a young scientist connected to a Flemish scientific organisation who has made an essential contribution to their field of science.

In an article published in the international magazine Nature Climate Change, Vicca demonstrated that not only photosynthesis but also food substances in the soil determine how much carbon is stored by forests. To determine this storage more precisely, scientific climate models should take this aspect into account.

According to Eos, the annual amount of emitted carbon dioxide is about 36 billion tonnes, which amounts to 10 billion tonnes of carbon. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is prevented from increasing rapidly by the absorption of part of it by oceans and plants. “But our knowledge of the carbon cycle still contains holes, which should be filled if we want to predict the future more precisely,” Eos says.

Current climate models are also not good at simulating extreme weather. Vicca pointed in another article to the impact of extreme weather. Storms and drought can lead to ecosystems on the land absorbing less carbon, which speeds up climate change.