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| Titel |
Assessing the carbon benefit of saltmarsh restoration |
| VerfasserIn |
Benjamin Taylor, David Paterson, Nicholas Hanley |
| Konferenz |
EGU General Assembly 2016
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| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
en
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| Digitales Dokument |
PDF |
| Erschienen |
In: GRA - Volume 18 (2016) |
| Datensatznummer |
250135522
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 EGU/EGU2016-16398.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| The quantification of carbon sequestration rates in coastal ecosystems is required to better
realise their potential role in climate change mitigation. Through accurate valuation this
service can be fully appreciated and perhaps help facilitate efforts to restore vulnerable
ecosystems such as saltmarshes.
Vegetated coastal ecosystems are suggested to account for approximately 50% of oceanic
sedimentary carbon despite their 2% areal extent. Saltmarshes, conservatively estimated to
store 430 ± 30 Tg C in surface sediment deposits, have experienced extensive decline in the
recent past; through processes such as land use change and coastal squeeze. Saltmarsh
habitats offer a range of services that benefit society and the natural world, making their
conservation meaningful and beneficial. The associated costs of restoration projects could, in
part, be subsidised through payment for ecosystem services, specifically Blue carbon.
Additional storage is generated through the (re)vegetation of mudflat areas leading to an
altered ecosystem state and function; providing similar benefits to natural saltmarsh
areas.
The Eden Estuary, Fife, Scotland has been a site of saltmarsh restoration since 2000;
providing a temporal and spatial scale to evaluate these additional benefits. The study is
being conducted to quantify the carbon benefit of restoration efforts and provide an
insight into the evolution of this benefit through sites of different ages. Seasonal
sediment deposition and settlement rates are measured across the estuary in: mudflat,
young planted saltmarsh, old planted saltmarsh and extant high marsh areas. Carbon
values being derived from loss on ignition organic content values. Samples are taken
across a tidal cycle on a seasonal basis; providing data on tidal influence, vegetation
condition effects and climatic factors on sedimentation and carbon sequestration
rates.
These data will inform on the annual characteristics of sedimentary processes in the
estuary and be used in concert with further data of vertical accretion, vegetation structure and
vegetation carbon storage; facilitating the estimation of the total additionality offered by
restoration and so its potential value as a subsidy. |
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