Sources, Sinks and Subsidies of Carbon within Coastal Saltmarsh Habitats

盐沼是植被覆盖的潮间带生态系统，支持独特的生物多样性，提供海岸保护，抵御风暴和洪水，以及其他生态系统服务。它们通过原位植物物质的积累和潮汐期间沉积物的捕获来增加有机碳。盐沼积累碳的速度比陆地森林快得多，储存碳的时间也长得多。因此，盐沼可以有助于减缓气候变化，但需要进一步的工作来确定它们是如何循环碳的。这项研究旨在利用广泛的实地和实验室工作，使用新颖的方法，提高我们对曾经积累到苏格兰盐沼的不同有机碳来源的命运的理解。据推测，较年轻的、原位的物质将优先被呼吸，而较老的、更稳定的、被困的物质将被储存更长时间。我的研究将为将盐沼纳入英国温室气体清单的工作提供参考。它将有助于突出哪些盐沼可以成为管理的目标，以最大限度地提高碳储存和减缓气候变化。它将有助于为盐沼排放提供一个微弱但重要的证据基础，这对于了解盐沼作为碳源/汇如何平衡并融入全球碳循环以及提高碳核算的准确性至关重要。

Saltmarshes are vegetated intertidal ecosystems that support unique biodiversity and provide coastal protection from storms and floods, alongside other ecosystem services. They accrete organic carbon through accumulation of in-situ plant material and trapping of sediments during tidal flux. Saltmarshes can accumulate carbon at rates much faster than terrestrial forests, and for store it much longer. Thus, saltmarshes can contribute to mitigating climate change, but further work is required to determine how they cycle carbon. This research aims to use extensive field and lab-work, using novel methods, to improve our understanding of the fates of the different sources of organic carbon once accumulated into Scottish saltmarshes. It is hypothesised that the younger, in-situ material will be preferentially respired, and the older, more stable, trapped material will be stored for longer.My research will inform work to include saltmarshes in the UK's greenhouse gas inventory. It will help to highlight which saltmarshes could be targeted for management to maximise carbon storage and climate mitigation. It will contribute to a slim but important evidence base for emissions from saltmarshes, which is vital for understanding how they balance as carbon sources/sinks and fit into the global carbon cycle, and to improve carbon accounting accuracy.