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Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Created Brackish Marsh in Eastern North Carolina

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Abstract

Tidal marsh creation helps remediate global warming because tidal wetlands are especially proficient at sequestering carbon (C) in soils. However, greenhouse gas (GHG) losses can offset the climatic benefits gained from C storage depending on how these tidal marshes are constructed and managed. This study attempts to determine the GHG emissions from a 4–6 year old created brackish marsh, what environmental factors governed these emissions, and how the magnitude of the fluxes relates to other wetland ecosystems. The static flux chamber method was used to measure GHG fluxes across three distinct plant zones segregated by elevation. The major of soil GHG fluxes from the marsh were from CO2 (−48–192 mg C m-2 h-1), although it was near the lower end of values reported from other wetland types having lower salinities, and would mostly be offset by photosynthetic uptake in this created brackish marsh. Methane flux was also low (−0.33–0.86 mg C m-2 h-1), likely inhibited by the high soil SO4 2− and soil redox potentials poised above −150 mV in this in this created brackish marsh environment. Low N2O flux (−0.11–0.10 mg N m-2 h-1) was due to low soil NO3 − and soil redox conditions favoring complete denitrification. GHG fluxes from this created brackish marsh were generally lower than those recorded from natural marshes, suggesting that C sequestration may not be offset by the radiative forcing from soil GHG emissions if projects are designed properly.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by USGS Wetland and Aquatic Research Center through cooperative agreement G11 AC20358. We thank Rebecca F. Moss (Cherokee Nation Technologies) for analyzing the gas samples, and Rachel Huie at NC State University, Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering for analyzing the pore water samples. We thank Jason Osborne at NC State University Department of Statistics for consulting on statistical analysis. Randall Etheridge, Magdlena Rabiipour, Bryan Maxwell, John Hutcherson, Ian Cader, Molly Mikan, Carolyn Currin, Nicole Cormier, and Rebecca F. Moss provided field assistance for chamber installation and/or gas sampling. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the US Government or NC State University.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, 128 Academia Rd., Sec. 2, Nankang, Taipei, 11529, Taiwan

    Yo-Jin Shiau

  2. Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, North Carolina State University, 200 Weaver Labs Admin, Box 7625, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Michael R. Burchell & Francois Birgand

  3. U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, 700 Cajundome Blvd., Lafayette, LA, USA

    Ken W. Krauss

  4. Department of Soil Science, North Carolina State University, Williams Hall, Box 7619, Raleigh, NC, USA

    Stephen W. Broome

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  1. Yo-Jin Shiau
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Correspondence to Yo-Jin Shiau.

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This draft manuscript is distributed solely for purposes of scientific peer review. Its content is deliberative and predecisional, so it must not be disclosed or released by reviewers. Because the manuscript has not yet been approved for publication by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), it does not represent any official USGS finding or policy.

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Raw data to support these interpretations are available upon request from the lead author (Y. Shiau, yshiau@ncsu.edu)

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Shiau, YJ., Burchell, M.R., Krauss, K.W. et al. Greenhouse Gas Emissions from a Created Brackish Marsh in Eastern North Carolina. Wetlands 36, 1009–1024 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-016-0815-y

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