Carbon storage in US wetlands
Citation:
Nahlik, A. AND M. Fennessy. Carbon storage in US wetlands. Nature Communications. Nature Publishing Group, London, Uk, 7:1-9, (2016).
Impact/Purpose:
The research and conclusions in this article highlight the role of wetland soils in storing carbon and the implications of disturbance to wetlands for climate change. Specifically, we provide unbiased estimates of soil carbon stocks for wetlands at regional and national scales using field data from the 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA). This research also describes how soil carbon stocks vary by wetland type and soil depth, and by anthropogenic disturbance to the wetland. We find that wetlands in the conterminous US store a total of 11.52 PgC – roughly equivalent to four years of annual carbon emissions by the US. Freshwater inland wetlands, in part due to their substantial areal extent, hold nearly ten-fold more carbon than tidal saltwater sites – indicating their importance in regional carbon storage. Furthermore, our data suggest a relationship between carbon stocks and anthropogenic disturbance, with less carbon being stored in most disturbed wetlands. This effort exemplifies the power of collecting national data using the NARS approach, and the results of this research further support indicator development efforts by USEPA for future NWCA surveys.
Description:
This Nature Communications article is a product of legacy work that contributes to Safe and Sustainable Water Resources research on technical support and research on the enhancement of Office of Water’s National Aquatic Resource Surveys (NARS) (SSWR 3.01A). The research is also potentially relevant to SHC and ACE research program questions. The research was conducted under USEPA cooperative agreement number 83422601 with Michigan State University in association with Kenyon College. USEPA 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment data used for this research are publically available from https://www.epa.gov/national-aquatic-resource-surveys/data-national-aquatic-resource-surveys. ***This is article is clearing for completion ONLY***
