Sabine is also Senior high school teacher in three different subjects; Swedish language, Geography and the IB-course ESS (Environmental System and Societies) in an international school situated in Stockholm. 

How does biodiversity and productivity effect on carbon sequestration in species-rich grasslands?

There is a strong societal impetus to preserve plant biodiversity in semi-natural grasslands, but grassland can also sequester carbon as soil organic matter (SOM). Despite the increasing awareness that grassland might be important for carbon sequestration, and not only forests or peatland, there are few empirical evidence from temperate grasslands, and particularly not how it relates to biodiversity, productivity or management practises.

My project focus on collect field data and modelling grassland management on carbon sequestration in rural Swedish landscapes. The research questions I focus on are following; How much carbon is stored in different types of species-rich grasslands? How is this carbon stored; in aboveground or root biomass, in soil microbial biomass or in different soil horizons? How is carbon storage and dynamics affected by grassland species composition relative to grassland productivity under different stages of grassland age, tree cover and management practices? Can preservation of grassland biodiversity also impact natural C sequestration rates at the local scale (patch) and at the landscape scale (region)?

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

• The role of midfield islets in pest control

  2013. Sabine Sigfridsson (et al.).

  During last century rising populations and changed market preferences have led to large structuralchanges in agriculture in the developed world. Most conventional cultivation methods involve theproduction of few monoculture crops within a homogenous landscape, where pesticides and inorganicfertilizers are used to increase yields. The cereal aphid Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) is a pest in cerealsresulting in large economic losses for farmers throughout Europe, and are currently removed withchemical pest control. However, the pesticides also affect existing ecosystem services like potentiallypest-controlling insects as well as the surrounding environment negatively. According to previousstudies higher landscape diversity leads to a higher diversity of natural enemies to pest insects, but nostudy has investigated if the pest control is enhanced around non-crop remnants such as midfield islets(MI). This thesis investigates (i) if MI will reduce the number of aphids in crop field, (ii) if larger MIwill be more effective than smaller MI by having higher aphid predation rate, and (iii) if larger MI willprovide a more effective reduction of pest insects over a longer distance from edge. To assess thepotential for pest control, aphids were glued on papers and placed at ground level in crop fields andaround MI in nine fields. The collected data was processed statistically, and the result demonstratesthat MI play an important role by providing habitats for natural enemies to pests. The increased size ofMI have a positive effect of number of aphids consumed around MI, however the distance from edgewas not significance. This study highlights the value of MI in crop fields as an existing ecosystemservice in biological pest control. The naturally occurring predators are able to reduce R.padi andthereby minimize the need for insecticide applications.

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Show all publications by Sabine Sigfridsson at Stockholm University