Sabine Jordan

I hold a degree in Geography, Agricultural Sciences and Sociology from Humboldt Universität zu Berlin (2005) and wrote my undergraduate thesis on the rewetting of drained peatlands. In 2016, obtained my PhD in Soil Science (SLU) with a thesis entitled ‘Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Rewetted Extracted Peatlands in Sweden’.
In addition to my research, my involvement in student education as well as supervision and my role as coordinator of the climate programme within SLU’s environmental monitoring assessment, I am active in various national and international organisations working on issues relating to mires and peatlands, peat and greenhouse gas fluxes. Through this, I have built up a broad network within academia, society and amongst land users.

In my research, I focus on land-use practices on organic soils, with regard to pedological aspects and greenhouse gas fluxes. I use natural and undisturbed peatlands as a reference for comparing cultivated and after-used/restored peatlands (rewetting, paludiculture) and their climate impact. I devote a large part of my working time to communication and knowledge transfer to stakeholders in politics and society, as peatlands (organogenic wetlands) must, for ecosystem reasons, be treated differently from minerotrophic wetlands. 

I also work with soil physical and chemical investigations in the context of farm conversion from abandoned agricultural land to regenerative agriculture. My other research areas are:

The consequences of peatland restoration for hydrochemistry, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus balances, greenhouse gas fluxes and hydrology

Paludiculture and sphagnum cultivation as climate-smart and productive uses of rewetted peatlands

The impact of the degree of peat decomposition on phosphorus forms in peat soils

Effects of chemical and physical changes in peatlands following drainage and rewetting

Production of lacquer profiles.

I am involved in numerous national and international research projects. This collaboration is also reflected in the diversity of my publications.

As part of SLU’s environmental monitoring assessment programme, my work focuses on monitoring and evaluating the environmental impact of organogenic soils, with particular emphasis on climate-related aspects. As coordinator of the "Climate" programme, I coordinate and develop activities aimed at measuring and analysing greenhouse gas fluxes from various peatland ecosystems, while also engaging in dialogue with relevant stakeholders on these ecosystems in the context of different forms of land use. Key areas of focus include risk assessment and the monitoring of measures aimed at climate adaptation and reducting climate impact.

Since 2001, teaching has been an integral part of my academic career when I started working as a student teaching assistant. Since then, I have taught various courses in soil and natural sciences, in the classroom, in the laboratory and in the field. I also organise and lead excursions and study visits to peatlands for interested people, as well as within the framework of national and international conferences and seminars.

Particular importance is placed on active interaction with students, both during courses and when organising fieldwork campaigns together with interns, many of whom come from international exchange programmes.

Providing students with a high-quality education is considered just as important as producing new research findings and communicating them to the wider non-academic world. Through active participating in courses in higher education pedagogy, I have developed a strong understanding of how to engage with students from a social and behavioural science perspective. This provides an important foundation for conveying knowledge at different levels. Training in research supervision has also strengthened my ability to mentor PhD students and early-career researchers.

Keck, H., Meurer, K. H. E., Jordan, S., Kätterer, T., Hadden, D. & Grelle A. (2024): Setting-aside cropland did not reduce greenhouse gas emissions from a drained peat soil in Sweden. Frontiers in Environmental Science, 12, https://doi.org/10.3389/fenvs.2024.1386134

Jauhiainen, J., Heikkinen, J., Clarke, N., He, H., Dalsgaard, L., Minkkinen, K., Ojanen, P., Vesterdal, L., Alm, J., Butlers, A., Callesen, I., Jordan, S., Lohila, A., Mander, Ü., Óskarsson, H., Sigurdsson, B. D., Søgaard, G., Soosaar, K., Kasimir, Å., Bjarnadóttir, B., Lazdins, A., and Laiho, R. (2023): Reviews and syntheses: Greenhouse gas emissions from drained organic forest soils – synthesizing data for site-specific emission factors for boreal and cool temperate regions. Biogeosciences, 20, 4819–4839, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-4819-2023

Daverkosen, L., Holzknecht, A., Friedel, J. K., Keller, T., Strobel, B.W., Wendeberg, A. & Jordan, S. (2022): The potential of regenerative agriculture to improve soil health on Gotland, Sweden. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 185, 901-914. https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.202200200

Maier, M., Weber, T.K.D., Fiedler, J., Fuß, R., Glatzel, S., Huth, V., Jordan, S., Jurasinski, G., Kutzbach, L., Schäfer, K., Weymann, D. & Hagemann, U. (2022): Introduction of a guideline for measurements of greenhouse gas fluxes from soils using non-steady-state chambers. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 185, 447-461. https://doi.org/10.1002/jpln.202200199

Jordan, S., Strömgren, M., Fiedler, J., Lode, E., Nilsson, T., and Lundin, L. (2020): Methane and Nitrous Oxide Emission Fluxes Along Water Level Gradients in Littoral Zones of Constructed Surface Water Bodies in a Rewetted Extracted Peatland in Sweden. Soil Syst., 4, 17. https://doi.org/10.3390/soilsystems4010017

Jauhiainen, J., Alm, J., Bjarnadottir, B., Callesen, I., Christiansen, J. R., Clarke, N., Dalsgaard, L., He, H., Jordan, S., Kazanavičiūtė, V., Klemedtsson, L., Lauren, A., Lazdins, A., Lehtonen, A., Lohila, A., Lupikis, A., Mander, Ü., Minkkinen, K., Kasimir, Å., Olsson, M., Ojanen, P., Óskarsson, H., Sigurdsson, B. D., Søgaard, G., Soosaar, K., Vesterdal, L., and Laiho, R. (2019): Reviews and syntheses: Greenhouse gas exchange data from drained organic forest soils – a review of current approaches and recommendations for future research, Biogeosciences, 16, 4687-4703, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4687-2019

Peacock, M., Audet, J., Jordan, S., Smeds, J. and Wallin, M., B. (2019): Greenhouse gas emissions from urban ponds are driven by nutrient status and hydrology. Ecosphere 10(3):e02643. 10.1002/ecs2.2643.

Berglund, Ö., Berglund, K., Jordan, S. and Norberg, L. (2019): Carbon capture efficiency, yield, nutrient uptake and trafficability of different grass species on a cultivated peat soil. CATENA, 173, 175-182.

Lundin, L., Nilsson, T., Jordan, S., Lode, E. and Strömgren, M. (2017): Impacts of rewetting on peat, hydrology and water chemical composition over 15 years in two finished peat extraction areas in Sweden. Journal of Wetlands Ecology and Management 25, 405-419; DOI: 10.1007/s11273-016-9524-9.

Jordan, S., Strömgren, M., Fiedler, J., Lode, E., Nilsson, T. and Lundin, L. (2016): Ecosystem respiration, methane and nitrous oxide fluxes from ecotopes in a rewetted extracted peatland in Sweden. Mires and Peat, Volume 17, Article 07, 1-23, DOI: 10.19189/MaP.2016.OMB.224.

Jordan, S., Velty, S. & Zeitz, J. (2007): The influence of degree of peat decomposition on phosphorus binding forms in fens. Mires and Peat, Volume 02, Article 07, 1-10 (Online: http://www.mires-and-peat.net/pages/volumes/map02/map0207.php).

Book chapter

Wilson, D., Hofer, B., Järveoja, J., Jordan, S., Niinistö, S., Purre, A.-H., Rankin, T., Shurpali, N. & Sirin, A. (2023): Climate impact of peat extraction for fuel and horticultural use. In book: Peatlands and Climate Change (Strack, M., editor). Publisher: International Peatland Society; ISBN 978-952-99401-8-9.