Matous does research about carbon in the boreal region

Matous Jimel is a PhD student at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science. His office is located in the Chemical Biological Centre at campus.

ImageFrida Endertorp

Matous Jimel originally comes from Prague in the Czech Republic where he studied the Bachelor’s Programme in Ecological and Evolutionary Biology. His choice of education is because of his interest in ecosystems, especially subarctic ecosystems and the polar region.

“The polar regions are changing far more rapidly than the temperate and the tropical regions. Because the polar regions are changing so rapidly, they provide valuable insights into climate change mechanisms and potential global impacts. But of course, there are also other things that are important, like the presence of carbon in soil, which may eventually cause a nonlinear increased warming effect with increasing temperatures” Matous says.

After graduation, he started looking at places where he could continue his studies with focus on the Arctic ecosystems. He chose Umeå, a place he visited for the first time ten years ago.

“I traveled all the way from the Czech Republic, through the entirety of the Swedish eastern coast to northern Finland by bus. We visited Umeå back when Väven wasn’t built. It’s really cool to see the city develop in such a short time. And that’s actually something that drew me in, the reputation of Umeå as a very young, dynamic and quickly changing city” Matous says.

Students taken as seriously as researchers

In Umeå, Matous chose to study the Master’s Programme in Ecology. He enjoyed many of the courses, but what he appreciated the most was that he was taken just as seriously as a working researcher.

“We were already being conditioned into the role of a researcher. The teachers had us actually read scientific papers, and discuss them, and they made sure that we really understood them. When you discuss research publications, you immediately start thinking of how you could do it, how you could do it better” Matous says.

Matous recounts that the teachers saw the students as equals. He brings up that the teachers discussed scientific subjects and research with the students as future researchers rather than just inexperienced students.

“The fact that I’m 30 years younger than the teachers and haven’t accomplished as many things doesn’t mean that I’m worse. I’m just a person who is in the process of achieving these things” Matous says.  

Researching carbon in streams

Today, Matous works as a PhD student at the Department of Ecology and Environmental Science at Umeå University. His research focuses on ecosystems in the boreal region. Boreal means the temperate region in the northern hemisphere.

Matous is currently working on a project in the Krycklan Catchment Study area outside of Vindeln. In the project, bags of leaves are used and placed in artificial streams. Matous then analyses leaf mass loss in order to investigate the effect of stream carbon on microbial decomposition.

“In the past month I’ve been heavily invested in the experiment that we have running right now, because soon, winter is coming. In roughly 30 days, we won’t be able to run the experiments anymore. Some days, I had to spend 12 to 14 hours on a weekend just trying to prepare everything” Matous says.

What’s the next step in the project?

“We will be trying to adapt this whole experiment into a lab setting, so that we have better control over everything, temperatures, sunlight, all that. Of course that makes it a bit less “natural”, meaning that we may miss some factors. But for better control, it might be easier in order to figure out the specifics of the process of decomposition” Matous says.

Matous feels like he has ended up in the right place regarding the research field. He describes his job as a possibility to satisfy his curiosity, but also to always learn new things.

“It feels like it’s this playful journey that also teaches you important life skills that may be useful even outside of academia” Matous says.

Do you have any advice for someone who’s considering studying ecology?

“Do it. This place is really good for networking in ecology, so if you’re thinking about becoming a researcher or working for the county administrative board, then this is a really good place to start” Matous says.

Read more about the Master's programme in Ecology

Interview & photo: Frida Endertorp