Tidal restoration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater impounded coastal wetlands

Cadier, Charles, Waltham, Nathan J., Canning, Adam, Fry, Scott, and Adame, Maria (2023) Tidal restoration to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from freshwater impounded coastal wetlands. Restoration Ecology. (In Press)

[img]
Preview
PDF (Publisher Accepted Version) - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.

Download (1MB) | Preview
View at Publisher Website: https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13829
 
568


Abstract

Freshwater impounded wetlands are created by artificially restricting coastal wetlands connection to tides. The decrease in salinity and altered hydrology can significantly increase greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, specifically methane (CH4). Restoration of freshwater impounded wetlands through tidal reintroduction can potentially reduce GHG emissions; however, studies in tropical regions are scare. This study investigates the potential for tidal restoration of impounded freshwater coastal wetlands by comparing their GHG emissions with tidally connected mangrove and saltmarshes in the Burdekin catchment in Queensland, Australia. We found that freshwater impounded wetlands had significantly higher CH4 emissions (3,633  ± 812 μg CH4 m2 hour1) than mangroves (27 ± 8 μg CH4 m2 hour1 ) and saltmarsh (13  ± 8 μg CH4 m2 hour1 ). Soil redox, moisture, carbon, nitrogen, and bulk density were all significantly correlated to methane emissions. Conversely, freshwater impounded wetlands had significantly lower nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions (0.72  ± 0.18 μg N2O m2 hour1) than mangroves and saltmarsh (0.35  ± 0.29 and 1.32  ± 0.52 μg N2O m2 hour1 respectively). Nevertheless, when converting to CO2 equivalents (CO2-eq), freshwater impounded wetlands emitted 91  ± 20 g CO2-eq m2 hour1 , compared to the much lower 0.8  ± 0.2 and 0.7  ± 0.2 g CO2-eq m2 hour1 emission rates for mangroves and saltmarsh. In conclusion, restoration of freshwater impounded wetlands through tidal restoration is likely to result in reduced GHG emissions.

Item ID: 77084
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 1526-100X
Keywords: blue carbon, mangrove, methane, nitrous oxide, saltmarsh, soil indicators
Copyright Information: © 2022 The Authors. Restoration Ecology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society for Ecological Restoration. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
Date Deposited: 15 Dec 2022 05:02
FoR Codes: 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410401 Conservation and biodiversity @ 30%
41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410404 Environmental management @ 30%
31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 40%
SEO Codes: 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180203 Coastal or estuarine biodiversity @ 50%
18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1805 Marine systems and management > 180507 Rehabilitation or conservation of marine environments @ 50%
Downloads: Total: 568
Last 12 Months: 108
More Statistics

Actions (Repository Staff Only)

Item Control Page Item Control Page