Organic carbon accumulation in British saltmarshes.

Autor: Smeaton C; School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom. Electronic address: cs244@st-andrews.ac.uk., Garrett E; Department of Environment and Geography, Wentworth Way, University of York, York, United Kingdom. Electronic address: ed.garrett@york.ac.uk., Koot MB; School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom., Ladd CJT; School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics, University of Swansea, Swansea, United Kingdom; School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Menai Bridge, United Kingdom., Miller LC; School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom., McMahon L; Department of Environment and Geography, Wentworth Way, University of York, York, United Kingdom; Department of Natural Sciences, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom., Foster B; Department of Environment and Geography, Wentworth Way, University of York, York, United Kingdom., Barlow NLM; School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom., Blake W; School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, United Kingdom., Gehrels WR; Department of Environment and Geography, Wentworth Way, University of York, York, United Kingdom., Skov MW; School of Ocean Sciences, Bangor University, Menai Bridge, United Kingdom., Austin WEN; School of Geography and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, United Kingdom; Scottish Association of Marine Science, Oban, United Kingdom.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: The Science of the total environment [Sci Total Environ] 2024 May 20; Vol. 926, pp. 172104. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Mar 29.
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.172104
Abstrakt: Saltmarshes are a crucial component of the coastal carbon (C) system and provide a natural climate regulation service through the accumulation and long-term storage of organic carbon (OC) in their soils. These coastal ecosystems are under growing pressure from a changing climate and increasing anthropogenic disturbance. To manage and protect these ecosystems for C and to allow their inclusion in emissions and natural-capital accounting, as well as carbon markets, accurate and reliable estimates of OC accumulation are required. However, globally, such data are rare or of varying quality. Here, we quantify sedimentation rates and OC densities for 21 saltmarshes in Great Britain (GB). We estimate that, on average, saltmarshes accumulate OC at a rate of 110.88 ± 43.12 g C m -2  yr -1 . This is considerably less than widely applied global saltmarsh averages. It is therefore highly likely that the contribution of northern European saltmarshes to global saltmarsh OC accumulation has been significantly overestimated. Taking account of the climatic, geomorphological, oceanographic, and ecological characteristics of all GB saltmarshes and the areal extent of different saltmarsh zones, we estimate that the 451.65 km 2 of GB saltmarsh accumulates 46,563 ± 4353 t of OC annually. These low OC accumulation rates underline the importance of the 5.20 ± 0.65 million tonnes of OC already stored in these vulnerable coastal ecosystems. Going forward the protection and preservation of the existing stores of OC in GB saltmarshes must be a priority for the UK as this will provide climate benefits through avoided emissions several times more significant than the annual accumulation of OC in these ecosystems.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
Externí odkaz: