Assessing Blue Carbon Stock in Delaware's Tidal Marshes
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Date
2017-09-14
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Abstract
Coastal wetlands offer numerous ecosystem services, including the ability to trap and store carbon and are today increasingly susceptible to human and climate-related stressors. Consequently, interest has expanded in tidal wetland potential to help offset carbon emissions through sequestration and vertical sediment accretion collectively referred to as “blue carbon”. There is an ongoing need to quantify the accumulation and standing stock of carbon within these systems and to assess how environmental gradients, especially salinity, affect the variability of stocks within marshes of an intrastate region. This question was investigated through collection of sediment cores covering a salinity gradient of 0-35 ppt across the two sites comprising the Delaware National
Estuarine Research Reserve. Cores were segmented into halves, dried at 105⁰C for 24 hours and homogenized. Bulk carbon was measured in triplicate using loss on ignition, the methodology of which was also tested to determine ideal time and temperature parameters. Results suggest that organic carbon density varies spatially and may possess a strong negative correlation with bulk density while the role of salinity remains uncertain. This work improves existing knowledge of Delaware-specific carbon stocks and sheds additional light on the use of environmental proxies for
carbon storage extrapolation over un-sampled areas, further informing scientists, policymakers, and land-managers on the manifold benefits of tidal wetlands in the context of restoration and greenhouse gas sequestration potential. Determination of carbon
stock and accumulation rates in Delaware marshes adds to the growing understanding of the role of such wetlands across North America and their prospective carbon storage characteristics.
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Keywords
wetlands, coastal carbon, Delaware, loss on ignition, climate adaptation