Project Title: Determining How Salt Marsh Pool Expansion Impacts Carbon Fluxes
Duration: 06/26-08/26
Funding Source(s): NOAA Margaret A. Davidson Fellowship
Principal Investigator: Emily Wilson, Boston University
Email: wilson47@bu.edu
Project Description: Over the past decade, interest in salt marshes as a natural climate change mitigation strategy has surged. Salt marshes are “blue carbon” ecosystems that sequester more carbon per unit area than terrestrial ecosystems. Uniquely situated at the interface between land and sea, salt marshes capture carbon from the estuarine watershed, have emergent vegetation with high rates of productivity, and water-logged soil that promotes long-term storage of carbon. A major uncertainty in blue carbon science that my research addresses is how accelerated relative sea level rise will impact the capacity and longevity of salt marsh carbon sinks. One negative consequence of sea level rise is salt marsh pool expansion. Conversion of marsh platform to pools has the potential to reduce the blue carbon capacity of marshes through the loss of stored organic carbon in the soil and reduction of the ability for marshes to capture and store more carbon. Changes to the carbon sink capacity of salt marshes can be determined by measuring carbon gas fluxes, or rates of exchange between the marsh surface and atmosphere of climate warming gases such as carbon dioxide and methane. The objective of this research is to determine how carbon fluxes differ between marsh platforms, pool edges, and pool centers. Fulfilling this objective will help quantify how pool expansion impacts the carbon sink capacity of salt marshes.
