| Abstract Detail
Climate Change Solutions from Plant Science: The Interaction at the Interface between Terrestrial Ecosystems and Coastal Ecosystems for Carbon Storage Thorhaug, Anitra [1], poulos, Helen Mills [2], Ku, Tim C.W. [3], Lopez-Portillo, Jorge [4], Berlyn, Graeme P. [5]. Seagrass Carbon standing stock, flux, and loss in in East Coast USA and Gulf of Mexico . Net seagrass ecosystem organic carbon balance of Atlantic USA estuaries. The USA Gulf of Mexico contains about 9500 km2 of seagrass while the Atlantic Coast contains about 10000 km2. We report herein the first subtropical/tropical basin-wide measurement of seagrass blue carbon stock which additionally forms the first various pollutant effects on seagrass blue carbon (Corg) comparative set of measurements. In the USA Gulf of Mexico (GOM) our measurements indicate a mean value in the upper 20 cm of 24.9 Mg Corg ha-1 for natural seagrasses. Our results indicate the upper 20 cm of restored seagrass beds have significantly higher Corg mean value content (36.8 Mg Corg ha-1) than naturally-occurring seagrasses’ or barren-polluted (n=192 cores, 9 sites) sediments. If we “adaptively” extrapolate natural seagrass values to the 947,327 ha of seagrass for the USA GOM, Corg stocks would total approximately 36.4 Tg, using spatial extents (which were estimated by state and federal government scientists from aerial imagery plus ground truth for the USA portion of the basin). This differs from the simple calculation (multiplying carbon average times spatial extent) which estimate is 23.6 Tg and is frequently used or extrapolated to 1 m. We detected a difference in Corg sequestered from “continually polluted restored and natural seagrasses vs. disturbed-one-time then conserved sites as 4 times greater. Also sites Corg differed significantly by species and with the age of the restored bed. We measured for the first time, anthropogenic disturbances and pollutant types on seagrass Corg , which indicates variable pollutant impacts on sequestered seagrass Corg stocks. Mexican northeastern Corg seagrass stock resembled that for Laguna Madre, Texas, but spatial extents were not yet available to create this estimate to satisfy Tier III. Eastern USA coasts will be discussed based on the various sets of carbon samples taken from subtropical to boreal with estimates of sequestered carbon and fluxes.
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1 - Yale University , School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 390 Prospect , new Haven , CT , 00561, USA
2 - Wesleyan University, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Middletown , CT, USA
3 - Wesleyan University, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Middletown , CT, 06459, USA
4 - Inecol -Xalapa, Xalapa, Vera Cruz, Mexico
5 - Yale University, School Of Foresty & Evironmental Studies, GREELEY LAB-370 PROSPECT ST, NEW HAVEN, CT, 06511, USA
Keywords:
seagrass blue carbon
seagrass carbon sequestration
Gulf of MExico carbon
seagrass organic carbon
pollution & seagrass carbon
Atlantic seagrass carbon.
Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY10, Climate Change Solutions from Plant Science: The Interaction at the Interface between Terrestrial Ecosystems and Coastal Ecosystems for Carbon Storage
Location: Chatham Ballroom - B/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Wednesday, August 3rd, 2016
Time: 10:30 AM
Number: SY10006
Abstract ID:535
Candidate for Awards:None |
