Through the advancement of GHG sensor technology, this project has deepened the capacity of NERR staff to conduct in-situ monitoring of carbon sequestration by salt marshes.

The Project

Salt marshes sequester more carbon per unit area than any terrestrial ecosystem and are an important component of “blue carbon” – the atmospheric carbon captured and stored by marine ecosystems. Quantifying fluxes of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide can help us better understand the role salt marshes play in mitigating climate change. However, there has been limited collection of salt marsh greenhouse gas flux data across the NERRS, in part because traditional methods for measuring these fluxes are time consuming and labor intensive, while more recent technologies can be cost prohibitive and destructive to the salt marsh. This lack of data is a major barrier to developing complete carbon sequestration values for salt marshes. It also limits our knowledge of how climate change impacts and habitat restoration efforts alter blue carbon.

To address these technological and scientific knowledge gaps, this project collaborated with five New England reserves to advance monitoring technology and protocol. The project team worked closely with users at reserves to test low-cost, portable sensors that measure carbon dioxide, temperature, and humidity in salt marsh environments. The team conducted field trips to collaborating reserves, incorporating iterative user feedback on instrument design, ease of deployment, and alignment with existing monitoring efforts at the NERRs. Over the course of the project, over 480 CO2 flux measurements were taken across 5 reserves, helping to create a more complete picture of carbon uptake in New England salt marshes and strengthening protocols for SWMP biomonitoring. In addition, this project has deepened collaborative partnerships across the reserves for monitoring blue carbon by advancing reserve knowledge about salt marsh blue carbon in their sites, capacity for measuring fluxes, and goals for future integration of blue carbon monitoring across the NERR system.

The Impact

• Increased capacity for NERR staff to collect in situ GHG flux data by developing an easy to use, non-invasive, cost-effective, novel sensor package.
• Enhanced understanding of factors that alter C fluxes in salt marshes, including regional gradients of physical and biogeochemical parameters such as specific plant species.
• Refined protocols for the SWMP biomonitoring program to better link coastal wetland vegetation and GHG fluxes.
• Enhanced capacity of our team to pursue future collaborative research opportunities to expand this work nationally.