Carbon sequestration in wetlands, from science to practice: An overview of the biogeochemical process, measurement methods, and policy framework

Villa, Jorge A.; Bernal, Blanca

doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2017.06.037

Cited by 146 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 153 publications

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“…Alpine wetlands, deep freshwater marshes, and shallow freshwater marshes had higher soil carbon stocks than saline wetlands and permanent open freshwater wetlands. While permanent open freshwater wetlands can be sinks for catchment carbon, a recent study by Villa and Bernal () suggests a quadratic relationship between inundation time and organic carbon stock and sequestration rates. This could also be because permanent open freshwater wetlands tend to have less macrophytes or tress compared to marshes or swamps, and therefore less primary productivity and addition of carbon from within the wetland itself.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon stocks, sequestration, and emissions of wetlands in south eastern Australia

Carnell

Windecker

Brenker

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

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Nontidal wetlands are estimated to contribute significantly to the soil carbon pool across the globe. However, our understanding of the occurrence and variability of carbon storage between wetland types and across regions represents a major impediment to the ability of nations to include wetlands in greenhouse gas inventories and carbon offset initiatives. We performed a large‐scale survey of nontidal wetland soil carbon stocks and accretion rates from the state of Victoria in south‐eastern Australia—a region spanning 237,000 km2 and containing >35,000 temperate, alpine, and semi‐arid wetlands. From an analysis of >1,600 samples across 103 wetlands, we found that alpine wetlands had the highest carbon stocks (290 ± 180 Mg Corg ha−1), while permanent open freshwater wetlands and saline wetlands had the lowest carbon stocks (110 ± 120 and 60 ± 50 Mg Corg ha−1, respectively). Permanent open freshwater sites sequestered on average three times more carbon per year over the last century than shallow freshwater marshes (2.50 ± 0.44 and 0.79 ± 0.45 Mg Corg ha−1 year−1, respectively). Using this data, we estimate that wetlands in Victoria have a soil carbon stock in the upper 1 m of 68 million tons of Corg, with an annual soil carbon sequestration rate of 3 million tons of CO2 eq. year−1—equivalent to the annual emissions of about 3% of the state's population. Since European settlement (~1834), drainage and loss of 260,530 ha of wetlands may have released between 20 and 75 million tons CO2 equivalents (based on 27%–90% of soil carbon converted to CO2). Overall, we show that despite substantial spatial variability within wetland types, some wetland types differ in their carbon stocks and sequestration rates. The duration of water inundation, plant community composition, and allochthonous carbon inputs likely play an important role in influencing variation in carbon storage.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Carbon stocks, sequestration, and emissions of wetlands in south eastern Australia

Carnell

Windecker

Brenker

et al. 2018

Global Change Biology

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“…In view of magnitude of variation of SOC content, density and storage potential, all the three vegetation communities of the natural section of the wetland had values significantly greater than what was recorded in the converted section. Our reasoning for this observation relates to differences of three aspects: 1) primary productivity [36,39], 2) organic matter recalcitrance [34,40], and 3) flooding regimes [8,32], between the natural and converted sections of the wetland. Plant biomass is the main source of SOM and the subsequent SOC in wetlands [3,15].…”

Section: Soil Organic Carbon In the Natural And Converted Sections Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, a small change in SOC pool may have a significant impact on climate change. The high productivity of natural wetlands together with the hypoxic/anoxic conditions enables them to accumulate large amounts of organic carbon in their soils [3,[6][7][8]. For example, wetlands are estimated to contain 20-30% of the earth's soil carbon pool, despite covering only 5-8% of the earth's surface [6].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A natural tropical freshwater wetland is a better climate change mitigation option through soil organic carbon storage compared to a rice paddy wetland

et al. 2020

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The high productivity together with hypoxic conditions in sediments enables wetlands to accumulate large amounts of soil organic carbon (SOC). However, natural tropical freshwater wetlands are increasingly being converted into other land uses, mainly rice cultivation. In this study, we investigated the impact of conversion of a natural tropical freshwater wetland into a rice paddy wetland on SOC, by determining SOC content, density and storage potential in the natural section (under different vegetation communities dominated by Cyperus papyrus [Papyrus], Typha latifolia [Typha] and Phragmites mauritianus [Phragmites]) and in the converted section (under rice cultivation). The SOC contents (g kg −1) and densities (kg m −2) of the 3 vegetation communities (Papyrus; 123.7 ± 2.6 [SE] and 7.22 ± 0.11, Typha; 85.3 ± 1.1 and 6.71 ± 0.12, and Phragmites; 78.2 ± 3.4 and 6.20 ± 0.06, respectively) of the natural section of the wetland were significantly higher (p < 0.05) than those (39.7 ± 0.7 and 3.90 ± 0.06, respectively) of the converted section. Similarly, for the entire sampled soil depth (0-50 cm), SOC storage potentials (Mg ha −1) of Papyrus (361.18 ± 5.53), Typha (335.31 ± 6.18) and Phragmites (310.17 ± 3.16) significantly exceeded (p < 0.05) that obtained in the converted section by nearly 46%, 42% and 38%, respectively. Soil physico-chemical characteristics: bulk density, salinity, pH and temperature, showed comparably significant correlations (p < 0.05) with SOC in both the natural and converted sections of the wetland. We strongly believe that exploration of alternative options for increasing rice production outside wetlands is paramount if natural tropical freshwater wetlands are to remain important ecosystems in climate change mitigation.

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“…Wetlands and Climate Change: Wetlands are among the most important natural resources on earth that provide a potential sink for atmospheric carbon but-if not managed properly, they become a source of greenhouse gases (Adhikari et al, 2009). Wetlands are an important carbon sink, contributing for climate regulation (Villa and Bernal, 2018). Wetland systems worldwide have been influenced by anthropogenic change (Shand et al, 2017).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Role of Wetlands for Climate Change Mitigation and Biodiversity Conservation

Dinsa¹,

Gemeda²

2019

Journal of Applied Sciences and Environmental Management

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Wetland is crucial in supporting biodiversity conservation and climate change regulation. A wetland ecosystem has been influenced by anthropogenic driven climate change. The main objective of this paper is to analyze the role of wetlands for climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation through literature review. Wetland is vulnerable to climate change through alterations of hydrological regimes that lead to changes in quantity and quality of water. Climate change is undoubtedly the most pervasive, complex and challenging of the global environmental issues facing contemporary society and it affects all aspects of development. Wetlands play a key role in hydrological and biogeochemical cycles, and provide a wide range of ecosystem goods and services to humankind. In spite of these facts, wetlands are considered as wastelands in the past, which contributes for deterioration of wetlands in several places. Thus, strong environmental policy is required for the conservation of wetland ecosystem.

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Carbon sequestration in wetlands, from science to practice: An overview of the biogeochemical process, measurement methods, and policy framework

Cited by 146 publications

References 153 publications

Carbon stocks, sequestration, and emissions of wetlands in south eastern Australia

Carbon stocks, sequestration, and emissions of wetlands in south eastern Australia

A natural tropical freshwater wetland is a better climate change mitigation option through soil organic carbon storage compared to a rice paddy wetland

The Role of Wetlands for Climate Change Mitigation and Biodiversity Conservation

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