Relationships Between Salinity and Short-Term Soil Carbon Accumulation Rates from Marsh Types Across a Landscape in the
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ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Relationships Between Salinity and Short-Term Soil Carbon Accumulation Rates from Marsh Types Across a Landscape in the Mississippi River Delta Melissa M. Baustian 1 & Camille L. Stagg 2 & Carey L. Perry 3,4 & Leland C. Moss 1 & Tim J. B. Carruthers 1 & Mead Allison 1,5
Received: 20 May 2016 / Accepted: 16 December 2016 / Published online: 6 January 2017 # The Author(s) 2017. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com
Abstract Salinity alterations will likely change the plant and environmental characteristics in coastal marshes thereby influencing soil carbon accumulation rates. Coastal Louisiana marshes have been historically classified as fresh, intermediate, brackish, or saline based on resident plant community and position along a salinity gradient. Short-term total carbon accumulation rates were assessed by collecting 10-cm deep soil cores at 24 sites located in marshes spanning the salinity gradient. Bulk density, total carbon content, and the short-term accretion rates obtained with feldspar horizon markers were measured to determine total carbon accumulation rates. Despite some significant differences in soil properties among marsh types, the mean total carbon accumulation rates among marsh types were not significantly different (mean ± std. err. of 190 ± 27 g TC m−2 year−1). However, regression analysis indicated that mean annual surface salinity had a significant negative relationship with total carbon accumulation rates. Based on both analyses, the coastal Louisiana total marsh area (1,433,700 ha) accumulates about 2.7 to 3.3 Tg C year−1.
* Melissa M. Baustian [email protected]
1
The Water Institute of the Gulf, One American Place, 301 Main St, Ste 2000, Baton Rouge, LA 70825, USA
2
U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, 700 Cajundome Blvd, Lafayette, LA 70506, USA
3
Gulf South Research Corporation, 8081 Innovation Park Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70820, USA
4
Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, 6160 Perkins Road, Ste. 225, Baton Rouge, LA 70808, USA
5
Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118, USA
Changing salinities due to increasing relative sea level or resulting from restoration activities may alter carbon accumulation rates in the short term and significantly influence the global carbon cycle. Keywords Soil . Organic matter . Carbon accumulation . Salinity . Wetland . Louisiana
Introduction Wetlands significantly impact the global carbon cycle because they contain 20–25% of the world’s soil organic carbon pool (Roulet 2000; Mitra et al. 2005). Carbon accumulation in marsh soils is an important ecosystem process that contributes to the burial of carbon, also known as Bblue carbon^ (Chmura et al. 2003; Mitra et al. 2005; Hopkinson et al. 2012). These carbon accumulation dynamics in marsh soils will likely be altered in response to future environmental conditions driven by climate change and coastal restoration activities. For example, it is predicted that as air and sea
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