My name is Safiye, and I am a researcher at the School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Technical University of Crete, Greece.
My work focuses on soil carbon cycling, greenhouse gas emissions, and the response of Mediterranean soils to climate and management pressures, with particular attention to calcareous soils where both soil organic carbon (SOC) and soil inorganic carbon (SIC) can contribute to CO₂ emissions.
I study how environmental factors such as temperature, rewetting, litter and fresh organic matter inputs, and land management practices influence the balance between organic- and carbonate-derived CO₂. I use stable carbon isotope analysis, CO₂ and O₂ measurements, isotope-based source partitioning, and temperature-response modelling to distinguish the origin of emitted CO₂ and to better understand the interaction between microbial activity and carbonate dynamics.
This work is particularly relevant for Mediterranean environments, where high carbonate contents, seasonal drought–rewetting cycles, warming, and changing land-use practices can strongly affect soil carbon processes. My broader interests include climate change impacts on soils, carbon sequestration and loss, soil respiration, carbonate dissolution and precipitation, environmental monitoring, sustainable land management, and the development of robust indicators for soil and ecosystem responses.
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