Collaborative Research: Burial of organic carbon in temperate, shallow lakes

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。大气中二氧化碳浓度的增加及其对全球气候的影响引起了全世界的关注。管理大气中的二氧化碳浓度需要了解生态系统如何处理碳，并确定可能长期储存碳的系统。海洋的碳动态对大气碳修复至关重要，但最近的研究表明，淡水系统中的碳储存对全球碳循环也很重要。了解湖泊和湿地沉积物中碳储存的控制机制代表了通过管理实践增加大气碳去除的潜在调节机制。该项目将评估浅湖和湿地在全球碳循环中的作用，并确定是否可以更有效地将碳储存在沉积物中。浅湖以水下水生植物或藻类为主，本研究将验证以水下植物为主的浅湖比藻类为主的湖泊在沉积物中储存更多碳的假设。据推测，水下植物有助于更高的碳储存，因为它们相对于藻类更耐分解。这些假设将通过现代测量和湖泊沉积物岩心的记录来测试，以估计几十年到几个世纪的碳储存率。现代的测量将包括比较和实验两种方法，包括对湖泊的观察，这些湖泊被操纵，从藻类转变为水下植物主导。许多浅水湖泊和湿地已经得到了严格的管理，但并不一定是为了去除碳。这个项目将增加关于这些系统中碳储存的来源和控制的基本知识，并确定是否可以通过管理浅水湖泊来增加大气中二氧化碳的吸收和储存。研究工作将强烈针对本科生、研究生和研究生的培训，其结果可在传统科学文献和网络上获得。特别是，科学家将与明尼苏达科学博物馆协调建立一个网站，向公众解释这项工作的相关性和结果。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). There is worldwide concern over increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and its influence on global climate. Managing atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide requires understanding how ecosystems process carbon, and identifying systems that potentially store carbon for long periods of time. Carbon dynamics of the ocean are critical to atmospheric carbon remediation, but recent work has suggested that storage of carbon in freshwater systems is also important to the global carbon cycle. Understanding the controls of carbon storage in lake and wetland sediments represents a potential regulatory mechanism for increasing atmospheric carbon removal through management practices. This project will assess the role of shallow lakes and wetlands in the global carbon cycle and determine if they can be managed to store carbon in sediments more efficiently. Shallow lakes are dominated by either submerged aquatic plants or algae, and this study will test the hypothesis that shallow lakes dominated by submerged plants store more carbon in sediments than do lakes dominated by algae. It is hypothesized that submerged plants facilitate higher carbon storage because they are more resistant to decomposition relative to algae. These hypotheses will be tested using both modern day measurements and records from lake sediment cores to estimate carbon storage rates over scales of decades to centuries. Modern-day measurements will involve both comparative and experimental approaches, including observations on lakes that are manipulated to shift from algae to submerged-plant dominance. Many shallow lakes and wetlands are already heavily managed, but not necessarily for carbon removal. This project will increase fundamental knowledge regarding sources and controls of carbon storage in these systems, and determine whether shallow lakes can be managed to increase uptake and storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Research efforts will be strongly directed at undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate training, with results available in traditional scientific literature and on the web. In particular, scientists will coordinate with the Science Museum of Minnesota to develop a website explaining the relevance and results of this work to the general public.