Carbon storage in US wetlands

Nahlik, Amanda M.; Fennessy, M. Siobhan

doi:10.1038/ncomms13835

Cited by 372 publications

(243 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…These results support the existing body of research showing that wetlands, in the broad sense, act as valuable sediment and nutrient stores (Johnston, 1991), particularly in contrast to anthropogenic degraded landscapes (Nahlik and Fennessy, 2016). Furthermore, results indicate that beaver engineered wetlands are exemplars of such valuable wetlands and can successfully exist or be created within intensively managed European agricultural landscapes (Law et al ., 2017; Puttock et al ., 2017).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Sediment and nutrient storage in a beaver engineered wetland

Puttock

Graham

Carless

et al. 2018

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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Beavers, primarily through the building of dams, can deliver significant geomorphic modifications and result in changes to nutrient and sediment fluxes. Research is required to understand the implications and possible benefits of widespread beaver reintroduction across Europe. This study surveyed sediment depth, extent and carbon/nitrogen content in a sequence of beaver pond and dam structures in South West England, where a pair of Eurasian beavers (Castor fiber) were introduced to a controlled 1.8 ha site in 2011. Results showed that the 13 beaver ponds subsequently created hold a total of 101.53 ± 16.24 t of sediment, equating to a normalised average of 71.40 ± 39.65 kg m2. The ponds also hold 15.90 ± 2.50 t of carbon and 0.91 ± 0.15 t of nitrogen within the accumulated pond sediment.The size of beaver pond appeared to be the main control over sediment storage, with larger ponds holding a greater mass of sediment per unit area. Furthermore, position within the site appeared to play a role with the upper‐middle ponds, nearest to the intensively‐farmed headwaters of the catchment, holding a greater amount of sediment. Carbon and nitrogen concentrations in ponds showed no clear trends, but were significantly higher than in stream bed sediment upstream of the site.We estimate that >70% of sediment in the ponds is sourced from the intensively managed grassland catchment upstream, with the remainder from in situ redistribution by beaver activity. While further research is required into the long‐term storage and nutrient cycling within beaver ponds, results indicate that beaver ponds may help to mitigate the negative off‐site impacts of accelerated soil erosion and diffuse pollution from agriculturally dominated landscapes such as the intensively managed grassland in this study. © 2018 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Sediment and nutrient storage in a beaver engineered wetland

Puttock

Graham

Carless

et al. 2018

Earth Surf Processes Landf

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“…CH 4 has a 100-year Global Warming Potential more than 28 times that of CO 2 (Myhre et al 2013). It is estimated that between 1750 and 2011 human activity has increased CH 4 is removed from the atmosphere at a rate of 492-785 Tg CH 4 y -1 mostly by atmospheric chemistry with small contributions from soil oxidation (Fig.…”

Section: Part 1: Wetlands In a Changing Climate: The Sciencementioning

confidence: 99%

Wetlands In a Changing Climate: Science, Policy and Management

Moomaw

Chmura

Davies³

et al. 2018

Wetlands

299

142

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Part 1 of this review synthesizes recent research on status and climate vulnerability of freshwater and saltwater wetlands, and their contribution to addressing climate change (carbon cycle, adaptation, resilience). Peatlands and vegetated coastal wetlands are among the most carbon rich sinks on the planet sequestering approximately as much carbon as do global forest ecosystems. Estimates of the consequences of rising temperature on current wetland carbon storage and future carbon sequestration potential are summarized. We also demonstrate the need to prevent drying of wetlands and thawing of permafrost by disturbances and rising temperatures to protect wetland carbon stores and climate adaptation/resiliency ecosystem services. Preventing further wetland loss is found to be important in limiting future emissions to meet climate goals, but is seldom considered. In Part 2, the paper explores the policy and management realm from international to national, subnational and local levels to identify strategies and policies reflecting an integrated understanding of both wetland and climate change science. Specific recommendations are made to capture synergies between wetlands and carbon cycle management, adaptation and resiliency to further enable researchers, policy makers and practitioners to protect wetland carbon and climate adaptation/resiliency ecosystem services.

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“…Mean soil concentration was 15.82 ± 1.46 ppm Pb in the Interior Plains, where there was also very little soil organic carbon (6.39 ± 1.43% SOC) compared to the Eastern Mountains & Upper Midwest and West (23.83 ± 4.08 and 24.81 ± 11.43 ppm Pb, respectively). While Eastern Mountains & Upper Midwest had the highest soil organic carbon content (33.50 ± 4.32% SOC), largely due to the number of peatlands found in the Eastern Mountains & Upper Midwest driving the exceptionally high soil organic carbon mean for this region (Nahlik and Fennessy 2016), the West had the lowest organic carbon content (5.33 ± 1.46% SOC). Given the high densities of roads and housing in the Eastern Mountains & Upper Midwest, which, in this study, are associated with elevated soil lead concentrations, it is fortuitous that, on average, wetlands in the Eastern Mountains & Upper Midwest have high soil organic carbon content that can support lead immobilization.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Total carbon was measured using an elemental analyzer (standard NRCS-SSL procedure 4H2a1-3), and inorganic carbon (i.e., calcium carbonate (CaCO 3 ) equivalent) was determined by exposing the soils to hydrochloric acid (HCl) and measuring the evolved carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) manometrically using standard NRCS-SSL procedure 4E1a1a1a1-2 (US EPA 2011b; Soil Survey Staff 2004). Soil organic carbon was calculated as the difference between total and inorganic carbon and is reported in percent (Nahlik and Fennessy 2016). …”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of national-scale data to examine human-mediated additions of heavy metals to wetland soils of the US

Nahlik

Blocksom

Herlihy

et al. 2019

Environ Monit Assess

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Soil concentrations of 12 heavy metals that have been linked to various anthropogenic activities were measured in samples collected from the uppermost horizon in approximately 1000 wetlands across the conterminous US as part of the 2011 National Wetland Condition Assessment (NWCA). The heavy metals were silver (Ag), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), chromium (Cr), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), lead (Pb), antimony (Sb), tin (Sn), vanadium (V), tungsten (W), and zinc (Zn). Using thresholds to distinguish natural background concentrations from human-mediated additions, we evaluated wetland soil heavy metal concentrations in the conterminous US and four regions using a Heavy Metal Index (HMI) that reflects human-mediated heavy metal loads based on the number of elements above expected background concentration. We also examined the individual elements to detect concentrations of heavy metals above expected background that frequently occur in wetland soils. Our data show that wetland soils of the conterminous US typically have low heavy metal loads, and that most of the measured elements occur nationally in concentrations below thresholds that relate to anthropogenic activities. However, we found that soil lead is more common in wetland soils than other measured elements, occurring nationally in 11.3% of the wetland area in concentrations above expected natural background (> 35 ppm). Our data show positive relationships between soil lead concentration and four individual landscape metrics: road density, percent impervious surface, housing unit density, and population density in a 1-km radius buffer area surrounding a site. These relationships, while evident on a national level, are strongest in the eastern US, where the highest road densities and greatest population densities occur. Because lead can be strongly bound to wetland soils in particular, maintenance of the good condition of our nation’s wetlands is likely to minimize risk of lead mobilization. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s10661-019-7315-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Carbon storage in US wetlands

Cited by 372 publications

References 25 publications

Sediment and nutrient storage in a beaver engineered wetland

Sediment and nutrient storage in a beaver engineered wetland

Wetlands In a Changing Climate: Science, Policy and Management

Use of national-scale data to examine human-mediated additions of heavy metals to wetland soils of the US

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