National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Publication Abstracts

Windham-Myers et al. 2018

Windham-Myers, L., W.-J. Cai, S.R. Alin, A. Andersson, J. Crosswell, K.H. Dunton, J.M. Hernandez-Ayon, M. Herrmann, A.L. Hinson, C.S. Hopkinson, J. Howard, X. Hu, S.H. Knox, K. Kroeger, D. Lagomasino, P. Megonigal, R.G. Najjar, M.-L. Paulsen, D. Peteet, E. Pidgeon, K.V.R. Schäfer, M. Tzortziou, Z.A. Wang, and E.B. Watson, 2018: Chapter 15: Tidal wetlands and estuaries. In Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2): A Sustained Assessment Report. N. Cavallaro, G. Shrestha, R. Birdsey, M.A. Mayes, R.G. Najjar, S.C. Reed, P. Romero-Lankao, and Z. Zhu, Eds., U.S. Global Change Research Program, pp. 596-648, doi:10.7930/SOCCR2.2018.Ch15.

Estuaries and tidal wetlands are dynamic ecosystems that host high biological production and diversity (Bianchi 2006). They receive large amounts of dissolved and particulate carbon and nutrients from rivers and uplands and exchange materials and energy with the ocean. Estuaries and tidal wetlands are often called biogeochemical "reactors" where terrestrial materials are transformed through interactions with the land, ocean, and atmosphere. Work conducted in the past decade has clearly shown that open-water estuaries as a whole can be strong sources of carbon to the atmosphere — both carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) — despite the fact that how degassing (i.e., gas emissions) rates vary in space and time in many estuaries is unknown (Borges and Abril 2011; Cai 2011). In contrast, tidal wetlands represent a small fraction of the land surface but are among the strongest long-term carbon sinks, per unit area, because of continuous organic carbon accumulation in sediments with rising sea level (Chmura et al., 2003). Estuaries are included here in the Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2) but were not included in the First State of the Carbon Cycle Report's (SOCCR1; CCSP 2007) assessment of coastal carbon cycling. Estuaries have been reviewed in recent synthesis activities, particularly the Coastal CARbon Synthesis (CCARS; Benway et al., 2016). Tidal wetlands were included in the wetlands chapter of SOCCR1 but are separated from inland wetlands in this SOCCR2 assessment to reflect their unique connections to estuarine and ocean dynamics. Consistently missing from previous fieldwork and syntheses are important annual carbon exchanges (including CO₂ and CH₄ flux) across boundaries of intertidal (hereafter, wetland) and subtidal ecosystems and deeper waters (hereafter, estuarine). As subsystems of an integrated coastal mixing zone, this lack of information limits understanding of the relative roles of wetlands and estuaries in carbon cycling at the critical land-ocean margin. An updated synthesis of current knowledge and gaps in quantifying the magnitude and direction of carbon fluxes in dynamic estuarine environments is presented herein.

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@inbook{wi07400v,
  author={Windham-Myers, L. and Cai, W.-J. and Alin, S. R. and Andersson, A. and Crosswell, J. and Dunton, K. H. and Hernandez-Ayon, J. M. and Herrmann, M. and Hinson, A. L. and Hopkinson, C. S. and Howard, J. and Hu, X. and Knox, S. H. and Kroeger, K. and Lagomasino, D. and Megonigal, P. and Najjar, R. G. and Paulsen, M.-L. and Peteet, D. and Pidgeon, E. and Schäfer, K. V. R. and Tzortziou, M. and Wang, Z. A. and Watson, E. B.},
  editor={Cavallaro, N. and Shrestha, G. and Birdsey, R. and Mayes, M. A. and Najjar, R. G. and Reed, S. C. and Romero-Lankao, P. and Zhu, Z.},
  title={Chapter 15: Tidal wetlands and estuaries},
  booktitle={Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2): A Sustained Assessment Report},
  year={2018},
  pages={596--648},
  publisher={U.S. Global Change Research Program},
  address={Washington, DC},
  doi={10.7930/SOCCR2.2018.Ch15},
}

TY  - CHAP
ID  - wi07400v
AU  - Windham-Myers, L.
AU  - Cai, W.-J.
AU  - Alin, S. R.
AU  - Andersson, A.
AU  - Crosswell, J.
AU  - Dunton, K. H.
AU  - Hernandez-Ayon, J. M.
AU  - Herrmann, M.
AU  - Hinson, A. L.
AU  - Hopkinson, C. S.
AU  - Howard, J.
AU  - Hu, X.
AU  - Knox, S. H.
AU  - Kroeger, K.
AU  - Lagomasino, D.
AU  - Megonigal, P.
AU  - Najjar, R. G.
AU  - Paulsen, M.-L.
AU  - Peteet, D.
AU  - Pidgeon, E.
AU  - Schäfer, K. V. R.
AU  - Tzortziou, M.
AU  - Wang, Z. A.
AU  - Watson, E. B.
ED  - Cavallaro, N.
ED  - Shrestha, G.
ED  - Birdsey, R.
ED  - Mayes, M. A.
ED  - Najjar, R. G.
ED  - Reed, S. C.
ED  - Romero-Lankao, P.
ED  - Zhu, Z.
PY  - 2018
TI  - Chapter 15: Tidal wetlands and estuaries
BT  - Second State of the Carbon Cycle Report (SOCCR2): A Sustained Assessment Report
SP  - 596
EP  - 648
DO  - 10.7930/SOCCR2.2018.Ch15
PB  - U.S. Global Change Research Program
CY  - Washington, DC
ER  -

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