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North American prairie wetlands are important nonforested land-based carbon storage sites

N.H. Euliss·R.A. Gleason·A. Olness·R.L. McDougal·H.R. Murkin·R.D. Robarts·R.A. Bourbonniere·B.G. Warner
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Abstract

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. ?? 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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N.H. Euliss, R.A. Gleason, A. Olness, R.L. McDougal, H.R. Murkin, R.D. Robarts, R.A. Bourbonniere, B.G. Warner. 2006. North American prairie wetlands are important nonforested land-based carbon storage sites. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.06.007

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