Plants could transform how scientists measure the climate benefits of tidal marshes
Growing up in New Jersey, Emily Wilson regularly passed tidal marshes without giving them much thought. They were part of the coastal landscape—stretches of green and blue she saw from the road.
Plants in tidal marshes could revolutionize the way scientists measure the climate benefits of these ecosystems, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Emily Wilson, a Boston University doctoral candidate, discovered that plant species are a far better predictor of methane emissions from tidal marshes than salinity, which has been the primary indicator for decades.
Tidal marshes are significant natural climate solutions as they remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store large amounts of carbon in their soils, but they also emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas. By identifying plant species as a robust proxy for methane fluxes, researchers and managers can estimate methane emissions across tidal marshes more accurately, providing a practical means of assessing their overall climate benefit.
This discovery builds on a decade of research led by Robinson Wally Fulweiler, a BU professor of Earth & Environment and Biology, who found that plants reflect long-term environmental conditions and stand out as the primary factor influencing greenhouse gas emissions in tidal marshes.
Brief written by urgent.news from Phys.org's own syndicated text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
