Project Title: Phragmites porewater geochemistry
Date: 6/2019-8/2019
Principal Investigator(s): Meagan Gonneea
Affiliations: U.S. Geological Survey: Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Summary: Methane is an important greenhouse gas produced during methanogenesis, a metabolic pathway for decomposing organic matter in saturated soils. Conditions that favor this organic matter decomposition pathway include low salinity and high water levels, conditions that also promote the growth of phragmites. However, methane production in phragmites patches in coastal wetlands is highly variable, indicating that methane production and subsequent flux to the atmosphere are dependent on the geochemical environment. This project will compare methane cycling in phragmites patches at Sage Lot Pond to the Herring River, an impounded salt marsh in Wellfleet, MA, to better understand what environmental drivers impact methane cycling in phragmites coastal wetlands. This project is being conducted by a PEP student with USGS staff.
