Greenhouse-gas fluxes in Wadden Sea Tidal Marshes – A Trilateral (NL, DE, DK) Assessment of Natural Climate Solutions - GREENTRIALS
Tidal marshes, semi-terrestrial ecosystems at the interface of land and sea, have a large potential to mitigate climate change through the long-term removal of atmospheric CO2. Their outsized leverage over the global carbon (C) cycle has been highlighted under the term blue carbon. However, the degree to which this CO2-sink function is offset by emissions of powerful non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHGs) –particularly methane– is poorly understood and represents one of the greatest uncertainties in blue C science. The Wadden Sea (WS) accommodates a major part of the European tidal-marsh area; however, blue C research in the region is still in its infancy. The objective of the GREENTRIALS project is to build the first comprehensive GHG budget for the tidal marshes of the WS region in a trilateral (DK, DE, NL) assessment. The project collaborators have been, and are, conducting the first studies on the CO2-sink capacity of tidal marshes throughout the region. GREENTRIALS will complement these studies by quantifying non-CO2 GHG emissions from the same sites and integrating the datasets in a synthesis report. The entire WS-marsh area is subject to different management and conservation practices, which have long been discussed in the context of biodiversity support. Here, these practices will be investigated from a perspective of natural climate solutions. Specifically, the potential to reduce GHG emissions via grazing management and by (re)creating tidal marsh on formerly embankment land will be studied.
Project partners: Uni Hamburg: Dr. Peter Mueller (PI), Prof. Dr Kai Jensen, Prof. Dr. Lars Kutzbach; Uni Aarhus: Prof. Dr. Franziska Eller; Uni Wageningen: Dr. Kelly Elschot; NPV Niedersächsisches Wattenmeer: Dr. Franziska Rupprecht
- Dauer: 01/2020 - 12/2023
- Drittmittelgeber: Bauer Hollmann-Stiftung im Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft