Department of Environmental Sciences, Western Washington University, Bellingham, Washington, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2021 Sep 10;16(9):e0257244. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0257244. eCollection 2021.
Tidal marshes have been recognized globally for their ability to sequester "blue carbon" but there is still a need for studies investigating the marsh response to restoration, particularly in the Pacific Northwest United States. Here we report carbon stocks and accumulation rates for restored and natural tidal marshes in the Stillaguamish River estuary in Puget Sound, Washington, where a 60-hectare marsh was reintroduced to the tidal regime from its previous use as diked and drained farmland. We found that the restoration not only maximized carbon accumulation but also enhanced resilience to rising sea levels. Four years after restoration, mean sediment carbon stocks in the upper 30 cm within the restored marsh (4.43 kg C m-2) were slightly lower than those measured in the adjacent natural marshes (5.95 kg C m-2). Mean carbon accumulation rates, however, were nearly twice as high in the restored marsh (230.49 g C m-2 yr-1) compared to the natural marshes (123.00 g C m-2 yr-1) due to high rates of accretion in the restored marsh (1.57 cm yr-1). Mean elevation change rates were nearly twice that of corresponding 210Pb accretion rates, but all were greater than the current rate of sea level rise.
潮汐沼泽因其固存“蓝碳”的能力而在全球范围内得到认可，但仍需要研究调查沼泽对恢复的响应，特别是在美国太平洋西北地区。在这里，我们报告了华盛顿州普吉特海湾斯蒂拉瓜米什河口恢复和自然潮汐沼泽的碳储量和积累率，在那里，一个 60 公顷的沼泽从以前的堤围和排水农田用途重新引入潮汐区。我们发现，恢复不仅最大限度地提高了碳积累，而且增强了对海平面上升的恢复力。恢复四年后，在恢复的沼泽中上层 30 厘米的平均沉积物碳储量（4.43 公斤 C m-2）略低于相邻自然沼泽（5.95 公斤 C m-2）。然而，由于恢复的沼泽中存在较高的堆积率（1.57 厘米 yr-1），恢复的沼泽的平均碳积累率（230.49 克 C m-2 yr-1）几乎是自然沼泽（123.00 克 C m-2 yr-1）的两倍。平均高程变化率几乎是相应 210Pb 堆积率的两倍，但都大于当前的海平面上升率。
