Citation Information

  • Title : North American prairie wetlands are important nonforested land-based carbon storage sites
  • Source : Science of the Total Environment
  • Publisher : Elsevier
  • Volume : 361
  • Issue : 1-3
  • Pages : 179-188
  • Year : 2006
  • DOI : 10.1016/j.scitot
  • ISBN : 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.06.007
  • Document Type : Journal Article
  • Language : English
  • Authors:
    • Bourbonniere, R. A.
    • Warner, B. G.
    • Robarts, R. D.
    • Murkin, H. R.
    • McDougal, R. L.
    • Olness, A.
    • Gleason, R. A.
    • Euliss, N. H. Jr.
  • Climates: Continental (D). Steppe (BSh, BSk). Hot summer continental (Dsa, Dfa, Dwa). Warm summer continental/Hemiboreal (Dsb, Dfb, Dwb).
  • Cropping Systems:
  • Countries: USA.

Summary

We evaluated the potential of prairie wetlands in North America as carbon sinks. Agricultural conversion has resulted in the average loss of 10.1 Mg ha(-1) of soil organic carbon on over 16 million ha of wetlands in this region. Wetland restoration has potential to sequester 378 Tg of organic carbon over a 10-year period. Wetlands can sequester over twice the organic carbon as no-till cropland on only about 17% of the total land area in the region. We estimate that wetland restoration has potential to offset 2.4% of the annual fossil CO2 emission reported for North America in 1990. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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