Quest for understanding wetland carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus sequestration potential in agricultural landscapes

由于气候变化导致的城市和农业扩张和改变，加拿大农业区的湿地越来越容易受到损失。与这种损失相对应的是生态功能的损失--特别是碳、氮和磷封存的损失。这种生物地球化学损失对下游水质的完整性具有负面和潜在的严重影响，从温尼伯湖和伊利湖再次出现大规模藻类水华可以看出这一点。政策和管理做法寻求保护水质和扭转下游营养物质污染的问题，但目前对控制湿地固持和流域营养物质输送的水文和生物地质化学过程的技术了解不足，如果没有必要的科学知识，可能会影响或损害这些努力。到目前为止，还没有任何研究计划试图巩固在国家和多机构层面上改善这种理解的努力。该研究项目将通过将领先的研究机构、政府和运营伙伴联系在一起，在一个协作计划中分享专业知识和监测工作，来解决这一缺点，以回答与农业湿地及其固定碳、氮和磷的能力有关的重点问题，并改善下游水域的完整性。监测和研究工作将集中在艾伯塔省、马尼托巴省和安大略省脆弱的农业景观上。从该项目获得的知识将提高在不同管理和气候变化情景下预测地方和区域规模的固存潜力和下游藻类水华的能力。这将为(加拿大和全世界)各国政府和管理当局提供必要的工具，以量身定制湿地和碳政策工具，以实现其养分减少/封存目标。该研究项目涉及NSERC的环境和农业目标领域，以及该目标领域下列出的六个研究主题中的三个：(1)水：健康、能源和安全；(2)粮食和食品系统；(3)气候变化研究和技术。

Wetlands in the agricultural areas of Canada are increasingly vulnerable to loss due to urban and agricultural expansion and alteration due to climate change. Corresponding to this loss is the loss of ecological function - particularly the loss of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus sequestration. This biogeochemical loss has negative and potentially serious, implications for the integrity of downstream water quality, as seen in the recurrence of extensive algal blooms in Lake Winnipeg and Lake Erie. Policy and management practices seek to protect water quality and reverse the problem of downstream nutrient pollution, but the current technical understanding of the hydrological and biogeochemical processes that govern sequestration in wetlands and nutrient transport in watersheds is inadequate, and without the requisite scientific knowledge, may compromise or impair these efforts. To date, no research program has attempted to consolidate efforts to improve this understanding across national and multi-institutional levels. This research project will address this shortcoming by connecting leading research institutions, government, and operational partners in a collaborative program sharing expertise and monitoring efforts to answer focused questions relating to agricultural wetlands and their ability to sequester carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus and improve the integrity of downstream waters. Monitoring and research efforts will focus on vulnerable agricultural landscapes in Alberta, Manitoba, and Ontario. The knowledge gained from this program will improve the ability to predict sequestration potential and downstream algal blooms at local and regional scales under different management and climate change scenarios. This will give governments and management authorities (in Canada and worldwide) the tools required to tailor wetland and carbon policy instruments to meet their nutrient reduction/sequestration targets. This research project addresses the NSERC target area of Environment and Agriculture and three of the six listed research topics under this target area: (1) Water: Health, Energy, Security; (2) Food and Food Systems; and (3) Climate Change Research and Technology.