Abstract
The lateral transport of carbon has been increasingly recognized as an important component of carbon budget in wetlands. We studied a typical coastal salt marsh located at the estuary of the Yangtze River by measuring lateral transfer of macro-detritus carbon within a creek during each month’s largest spring tide period, and simultaneously, we measured the gross primary production (GPP) by the eddy covariance (EC) method. The results showed a bimodal seasonal pattern of net detritus carbon export, with one peak associated with mainly green/fresh carbon materials and the other peak associated with mainly yellow-dark/senescent carbon materials. We also found that the export of green detritus carbon was highly correlated with plant phenology and the height of tides, suggesting influences from both the standing stock of living biomass and the force of tides. GPP measured by the EC technique (GPPEC) and by remote sensing (GPPRS) differed substantially. We found this difference was correlated well with the net export of green macro-detritus. In general, we concluded that the lateral flux is an important component of the carbon budget in the marsh and that to cross validate between GPPEC and GPPRS, it must be included as a calibration term for computing GPPEC.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Algesten G, Sobek S, Bergström A, Ågren A, Tranvik LJ, Jansson M (2004) Role of lakes for organic carbon cycling in the boreal zone. Global Change Biology 10:141–147
Aufdenkampe AK, Mayorga E, Raymond PA, Melack JM, Doney SC, Alin SR, Aalto RE, Yoo K (2011) Riverine coupling of biogeochemical cycles between land, oceans, and atmosphere. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 9:53–60
Beer C, Reichstein M, Tomelleri E, Ciais P, Jung M, Carvalhais N, Rödenbeck C, Arain MA, Baldocchi D, Bonan GB (2010) Terrestrial gross carbon dioxide uptake: global distribution and covariation with climate. Science 329:834–838
Bouchard V (2007) Export of organic matter from a coastal freshwater wetland to Lake Erie: an extension of the outwelling hypothesis. Aquatic Ecology 41:1–7
Bouchard V, Lefeuvre JC (2000) Primary production and macro-detritus dynamics in a European salt marsh: carbon and nitrogen budgets. Aquatic Botany 67:23–42
Bouchard V, Creach V, Lefeuvre JC, Bertru G, Mariotti A (1998) Fate of plant detritus in a European salt marsh dominated by Atriplex portulacoides (L.) Aellen. Hydrobiologia 373-374:75–87
Buffam I, Turner MG, Desai AR, Hanson PC, Rusak JA, Lottig NR, Stanley EH, Carpenter SR (2011) Integrating aquatic and terrestrial components to construct a complete carbon budget for a north temperate lake district. Global Change Biology 17:1193–1211
Chmura GL, Anisfeld SC, Cahoon DR, Lynch JC (2003) Global carbon sequestration in tidal, saline wetland soils. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 17:1111–1120
Chu H, Gottgens JF, Chen J, Sun G, Desai AR, Ouyang Z, Shao C, Czajkowski K (2015) Climatic variability, hydrologic anomaly, and methane emission can turn productive freshwater marshes into net carbon sources. Global Change Biology 21:1165–1181
Ciais P, Borges AV, Abril G, Meybeck M, Folberth G, Hauglustaine D, Janssens IA (2008) The impact of lateral carbon fluxes on the European carbon balance. Biogeosciences 5:1259–1271
Cole JJ, Prairie YT, Caraco NF, McDowell WH, Tranvik LJ, Striegl RG, Duarte CM, Kortelainen P, Downing JA, Middelburg JJ, Melack J (2007) Plumbing the global carbon cycle: integrating inland waters into the terrestrial carbon budget. Ecosystems 10:172–185
Dankers N, Binsbergen M, Zegers K (1984) Transportation of water, particulate and dissolved organic and inorganic matter between a salt marsh and Ems-Dollard estuary, the Netherlands. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 19:143–165
Desai AR, Richardson AD, Moffat AM, Kattge J, Hollinger DY, Barr A, Falge E, Noormets A, Papale D, Reichstein M, Stauch VJ (2008) Cross-site evaluation of eddy covariance GPP and RE decomposition techniques. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 148:821–838
Dinsmore KJ, Billett MF, Skiba UM, Rees RM, Drewer J, Helfter C (2010) Role of the aquatic pathway in the carbon and greenhouse gas budgets of a peatland catchment. Global Change Biology 16:2750–2762
Duarte B, Vaz N, Valentim JM, Dias JM, Silva H, Marques JC, Sleimi N, Caçador I (2017) Revisiting the outwelling hypothesis: modelling salt marsh detrital metal exports under extreme climatic events. Marine Chemistry 191:24–33
Grelle A, Burba G (2007) Fine-wire thermometer to correct CO2 fluxes by open-path analyzers for artificial density fluctuations. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 147:48–57
Guo H, Noormets A, Zhao B, Chen J-Q, Sun G, Gu Y, Li B, Chen J-K (2009) Tidal effects on net ecosystem exchange of carbon in an estuarine wetland. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology 149:1820–1828
He M, Zhao B, Ouyang Z, Yan Y, Li B (2010) Linear spectral mixture analysis of Landsat TM data for monitoring invasive exotic plants in estuarine wetlands. International Journal of Remote Sensing 31:4319–4333
Heinsch FA, Zhao M, Running SW, Kimball JS, Nemani RR, Davis KJ, Bolstad PV, Cook BD, Desai AR, Ricciuto DM (2006) Evaluation of remote sensing based terrestrial productivity from MODIS using regional tower eddy flux network observations. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 44:1908–1925
Hemminga MA, Klap AV, Soelen JV, Boon JJ (1993) Effect of salt marsh inundation on estuarine particulate organic matter characteristics. Marine Ecology Progress 99:153–161
Hemminga MA, Cattrijsse A, Wielemaker A (1996) Bedload and nearbed detritus transport in a tidal saltmarsh creek. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 42:55–62
Holden J, Smart RP, Dinsmore KJ, Baird AJ, Billett MF, Chapman PJ (2012) Natural pipes in blanket peatlands: major point sources for the release of carbon to the aquatic system. Global Change Biology 18:3568–3580
Jenerette GD, Lal R (2005) Hydrologic sources of carbon cycling uncertainty throughout the terrestrial–aquatic continuum. Global Change Biology 11:1873–1882
Johnson MS, Lehmann J, Riha SJ, Krusche AV, Richey JE, Ometto JPHB, Couto EG (2008) CO2 efflux from Amazonian headwater streams represents a significant fate for deep soil respiration. Geophysical Research Letters 35:L17401
Kang X, Wang Y, Chen H, Tian J, Cui X, Rui Y, Zhong L, Kardol P, Hao Y, Xiao X (2014) Modeling carbon fluxes using multi-temporal MODIS imagery and CO2 eddy flux tower data in Zoige alpine wetland, south-west China. Wetlands 34:603–618
Kang X, Hao Y, Cui X, Chen H, Huang S, Du Y, Li W, Kardol P, Xiao X, Cui L (2016) Variability and changes in climate, phenology, and gross primary production of an alpine wetland ecosystem. Remote Sensing 8:391. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs8050391
Kathilankal JC, Mozdzer TJ, Fuentes JD, D'Odorico P, McGlathery KJ, Zieman JC (2008) Tidal influences on carbon assimilation by a salt marsh. Environmental Research Letters 3:1–6
Koch F, Gobler CJ (2009) The effects of Tidal export from salt marsh ditches on estuarine water quality and plankton communities. Estuaries and Coasts 32:261–275
Lehman PW, Mayr S, Mecum L, Enright C (2010) The freshwater tidal wetland Liberty Island, CA was both a source and sink of inorganic and organic material to the San Francisco Estuary. Aquatic Ecology 44:359–372
Odum EP (2000) Tidal marshes as outwelling/pulsing systems. In: Weinstein MP, Kreeger DA (eds) Concepts and controversies in tidal marsh ecology. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 3–7
Ouyang Z, Zhang M, Xie X, Shen Q, Guo H, Zhao B (2011) A comparison of pixel-based and object-oriented approaches to VHR imagery for mapping saltmarsh plants. Ecological Informatics 6:136–146
Ouyang Z, Shao C, Chu H, Becker R, Bridgeman T, Stepien C, John R, Chen J (2017) The effect of algal blooms on carbon emissions in western lake Erie: an integration of remote sensing and eddy covariance measurements. Remote Sensing 9:1–19
Palomo L, Niell FX (2009) Primary production and nutrient budgets of Sarcocornia perennis ssp alpini (Lag.) Castroviejo in the salt marsh of the Palmones River estuary (Southern Spain). Aquatic Botany 91:130–136
Parton WJ, Stewart JWB, Cole CV (1988) Dynamics of C, N, P and S in grassland soils: a model. Biogeochemistry 5:109–131
Potter CS, Randerson JT, Field CB, Matson PA, Vitousek PM, Mooney HA, Klooster SA (1993) Terrestrial ecosystem production: a process model based on global satellite and surface data. Global Biogeochemical Cycles 7:811–841
Reichstein M, Falge E, Baldocchi D, Papale D, Aubinet M, Berbigier P, Bernhofer C, Buchmann N, Gilmanov T, Granier A (2005) On the separation of net ecosystem exchange into assimilation and ecosystem respiration: review and improved algorithm. Global Change Biology 11:1424–1439
Richey JE, Melack JM, Aufdenkampe AK, Ballester VM, Hess LL (2002) Outgassing from Amazonian rivers and wetlands as a large tropical source of atmospheric CO2. Nature 416:617–620
Running SW, Baldocchi DD, Turner DP, Gower ST, Bakwin PS, Hibbard KA (1999) A global terrestrial monitoring network integrating tower fluxes, flask sampling, ecosystem modeling and EOS satellite data. Remote Sensing of Environment 70:108–127
Schotanus P, Nieuwstadt FTM, Bruin HARD (1983) Temperature measurement with a sonic anemometer and its application to heat and moisture fluxes. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 26:81–93
Shi H, Li L, Eamus D, Huete A, Cleverly J, Tian X, Yu Q, Wang S, Montagnani L, Magliulo V, Rotenberg E, Pavelka M, Carrara A (2017) Assessing the ability of MODIS EVI to estimate terrestrial ecosystem gross primary production of multiple land cover types. Ecological Indicators 72:153–164
Teal JM (1962) Energy flow in the salt marsh ecosystem of Georgia. Ecology 43:614–624
Tranvik LJ, Downing JA, Cotner JB, Loiselle SA, Striegl RG, Ballatore TJ, Dillon P, Knoll LB, Kutser T, Larsen S, Laurion I, Leech DM, McAllister SL, McKnight DM, Melack J, Overholt E, Porter JA, Prairie YT, Renwick WH, Roland F, Sherman BS, Schindler DW, Sobek S, Tremblay A, Vanni MJ, Verschoor AM, Wachenfeldt Von E, Weyhenmeyer G (2009) Lakes and reservoirs as regulators of carbon cycling and climate. Limnology and Oceanography 54:2298–2314
Webb EK, Pearman GI, Leuning R (1980) Correction of flux measurements for density effects due to heat and water vapour transfer. Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society 106:85–100
Wilczak JM, Oncley SP, Stage SA (2001) Sonic anemometer tilt correction algorithms. Boundary-Layer Meteorology 99:127–150
Winter P, Schlacher TA, Baird D (1996) Carbon flux between an estuary and the ocean: a case for outwelling. Hydrobiologia 337:123–132
Wolff WJ, VanEeden MN, Lammens E (1979) Primary production and import of particulate organic matter on a salt marsh in the Netherlands. Netherlands Journal of Sea Research 13:242–255
Wu M, Muhammad S, Chen F, Niu Z, Wang C (2015) Combining remote sensing and eddy covariance data to monitor the gross primary production of an estuarine wetland ecosystem in East China. Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts 17:753–762
Xiao X, Zhang Q, Braswell B, Urbanski S, Boles S, Wofsy S, Iii BM, Ojima D (2004a) Modeling gross primary production of temperate deciduous broadleaf forest using satellite images and climate data. Remote Sensing of Environment 91:256–270
Xiao X, Hollinger D, Aber J, Goltz M, Davidson EA, Zhang Q, Moore B (2004b) Satellite-based modeling of gross primary production in an evergreen needleleaf forest. Remote Sensing of Environment 89:519–534
Xiao X, Zhang Q, Saleska S, Hutyra L, De Camargo P, Wofsy S, Frolking S, Boles S, Keller M, Moore B (2005) Satellite-based modeling of gross primary production in a seasonally moist tropical evergreen forest. Remote Sensing of Environment 94:105–122
Yan Y, Zhao B, Chen J, Guo H, Gu Y, Wu Q, Li B (2008) Closing the carbon budget of estuarine wetlands with tower-based measurements and MODIS time series. Global Change Biology 14:1690–1702
Yan Y, Ouyang Z, Guo H, Jin S, Zhao B (2010) Detecting the spatiotemporal changes of tidal flood in the estuarine wetland by using MODIS time series data. Journal of Hydrology 384:156–163
Yang S (1998) The role of Scirpus marsh in attenuation of hydrodynamics and retention of fine sediment in the Yangtze Estuary. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 47:227–233
Zhao B, Guo H, Yan Y, Wang Q, Li B (2008) A simple waterline approach for tidelands using multi-temporal satellite images: a case study in the Yangtze Delta. Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science 77:134–142
Zhao B, Yan Y, Guo H, He M, Gu Y, Li B (2009) Monitoring rapid vegetation succession in estuarine wetland using time series MODIS-based indicators: an application in the Yangtze River Delta area. Ecological Indicators 9:346–356
Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a grant from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 30870409) and the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai (No. 10dz1200603). We thank Chongming Dongtan National Natural Reserve and the students in our laboratories for their assistance with field research. Gratitude is extended to the first author’s wife Lisa who provided understanding and support for the hard field survey.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Yu Gao and Zutao Ouyang contribute equally to this work.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Gao, Y., Ouyang, Z., Shao, C. et al. Field Observation of Lateral Detritus Carbon Flux in a Coastal Wetland. Wetlands 38, 613–625 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-018-1005-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-018-1005-x