Spartina alterniflora has the highest methane emissions in a St. Lawrence estuary salt marsh

Sophie A Comer-warner, Sami Ullah, Wendy Ampuero Reyes, Stefan Krause, Gail L Chmura

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Abstract

Salt marshes have the ability to store large amounts of 'blue carbon', potentially mitigating some of the effects of climate change. Salt marsh carbon storage may be partially offset by emissions of CH4, a highly potent greenhouse gas. Sea level rise and invasive vegetation may cause shifts between different elevation and vegetation zones in salt marsh ecosystems. Elevation zones have distinct soil properties, plant traits and rhizosphere characteristics, which affect CH4 fluxes. We investigated differences in CH4 emissions between four elevation zones (mudflat, Spartina alterniflora, Spartina patens and invasive Phragmites australis) typical of salt marshes in the northern Northwest Atlantic. CH4 emissions were significantly higher from the S. alterniflora zone (17.7 ± 9.7 mg C m−2h−1) compared to the other three zones, where emissions were negligible (
Original languageEnglish
Article number011003
JournalEnvironmental Research: Ecology
Volume1
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Aug 2022

Keywords

  • salt marsh
  • elevation zone
  • vegetation
  • blue carbon
  • methane
  • invasive species
  • sea level rise

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