Archive for marshes

Seagrass carbon dynamics: Gulf of Mexico

Posted by mmaheigan 
· Thursday, March 1st, 2018 

Seagrasses have died-off in great numbers, resulting in the release of stored carbon. Seagrasses represent a substantive and relatively unconstrained North American and Caribbean Sea blue carbon sink in the tropical Western Hemisphere. Fine-scale estimates of regional seagrass carbon stocks, as well as carbon fluxes from anthropogenic disturbances and natural processes and gains in sedimentary carbon from seagrass restoration are currently lacking for the bulk of tropical Western Hemisphere seagrass systems.

To address this knowledge gap, in the subtropics and tropics, a recent study yielded estimates of organic carbon (Corg) stocks, losses, and restoration gains from several seagrass beds around the Gulf of Mexico (GoM). GoM-wide seagrass natural Corg stocks were estimated to be ~37.2–37.5Tg Corg. A unique method involving quadruplicate sampling in naturally-occurring, restored, continually-historically barren, and previously-disturbed-now-barren sites provided the first available Corg loss measurements for subtropical-tropical seagrasses. GoM Corg losses were slow, occurring over multiple years, and differed between sites, depending on disturbance type. Mean restored seagrass bed Corg stocks exceeded those of natural seagrass beds, underscoring the importance of seagrass restoration as a viable carbon sequestration strategy. For restored seagrass areas, the older the restoration site, the greater the Corg stock.

Organic carbon stocks for Gulf of Mexico sediments for the top 20 cm of sediment in always barren, impacted barren, natural seagrass, and restored seagrass sites. Natural and restored seagrass beds had significantly higher organic carbon stocks than impacted barren or always barren sediments.

Seagrass restoration appears to be an important tool for climate-change mitigation. In the USA and throughout the tropics and subtropics, restoration could reduce sedimentary carbon leakage and bolster total blue carbon stores, while facilitating increased fisheries and shoreline stability. Although well-planned and executed restoration of seagrass is more difficult than mangroves or marshes, there are >1 million hectares of degraded seagrass habitats that could be restored, which would greatly increase blue carbon sinks and support diverse marine species that rely on seagrass for habitat and food.

 

Authors:
Anitra Thorhaug (Yale School of Forestry)
Helen M. Poulos (Earth Sci., Wesleyan Univ.)
Jorge López-Portillo (Inecol, Mexico)
Timothy C.W. Ku (Earth Sci., Wesleyan Univ.)
Graeme P. Berlyn (Yale School of Forestry)

Quantifying coastal and marine ecosystem carbon storage potential for climate mitigation policy and management

Posted by mmaheigan 
· Wednesday, June 21st, 2017 

Under the increasing threat of climate change, conservation practitioners and policy makers are seeking innovative and data–driven recommendations for mitigating emissions and increasing natural carbon sinks through nature-based solutions. While the ocean and terrestrial forests, and more recently, coastal wetlands, are well known carbon sinks, there is interest in exploring the carbon storage potential of other coastal and marine ecosystems such as coral reefs, kelp forests, phytoplankton, planktonic calcifiers, krill, and teleost fish. A recent study in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment reviewed the potential and feasibility of managing these other coastal and marine ecosystems for climate mitigation. The authors concluded, that while important parts of the carbon cycle, coral reefs, kelp forests, planktonic calcifiers, krill, and teleost fish do not represent long-term carbon stores, and in the case of fish, do not represent a sequestration pathway. Phytoplankton do sequester globally significant amounts of carbon and contribute to long-term carbon storage in the deep ocean, but there is currently no good way to manage them to increase their carbon storage capacity; additionally, the vast majority of phytoplankton is located in international waters that are outside national jurisdictions, making it very difficult to include them in current climate mitigation policy frameworks.

Comparatively, coastal wetlands (mangroves, tidal marshes, and seagrasses) effectively sequester carbon long-term (up to 10x more carbon stored per unit area than terrestrial forests with 50-90% of the stored carbon residing in the soil), and fall within clear national jurisdictions, which facilitates effective and quantifiable management actions. In addition, wetland degradation has the potential to release vast amounts of stored carbon back into the atmosphere and water column, meaning that conservation and restoration of these systems can also reduce potential emissions. The authors conclude that coastal wetland protection and restoration should be a primary focus in comprehensive climate change mitigation plans along with reducing emissions.

Authors:
Jennifer Howard (Conservation International)
Ariana Sutton-Grier (University of Maryland, NOAA)
Dorothée Herr (IUCN)
Joan Kleypas (NCAR)
Emily Landis (The Nature Conservancy)
Elizabeth Mcleod (The Nature Conservancy)
Emily Pidgeon (Conservation International)
Stefanie Simpson (Restore America’s Estuaries)

Original paper: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.1451/full

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