Foundational Research on Rebalancing with Blue Carbon

Coastal ecosystems provide an essential part of the solution to global climate change, along with along with providing other benefits such as wildlife habitat and shoreline protection. Carbon that’s stored in coastal and marine ecosystems, is called “blue carbon”. We’re talking with leading scientists about their foundational research into how blue carbon is helping to address climate change. Hosts Sarah Thorne and Jeff King, National Lead of the Engineering With Nature® Program, are joined by Lisa Chambers, Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Central Florida; Jenny Davis, Research Ecologist with the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science (NCCOS), in the Beaufort Lab, Marine Spatial Ecology Division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA); and Jacob Berkowitz, a Research Soil Scientist and Lead of the Wetland Team with the Engineer Research Development Center (ERDC), US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). As Lisa explains, blue carbon refers to carbon stored in coastal marshes, mangroves, and seagrasses. The “blue” term differentiates it from carbon stored in other ecosystems such as terrestrial forests. Lisa notes that coastal ecosystems actually sequester significantly more carbon than most terrestrial forests. And importantly, they store it for long periods of time below the ground in the soils. Restoring these ecosystems and protecting these old stores of carbon is critical. Jenny explains: “When we take core samples down in those deep marsh sediments, in some cases, it’s 2,000 to 3,000 years ago. It’s important to think about how long it took to build that store of rich carbon and if you lose it, how long it’s going to take to replace it. It’s really important to preserve it.” There’s increasing interest by the US Department of the Defense (DoD) and across US federal agencies in understanding carbon dynamics and identifying opportunities to increase the sequestration of carbon. As Jacob explains, he and Lisa were asked by the EWN Program to investigate blue carbon within the context of the Corps’s ecosystem restoration and navigation programs, including beneficial use of dredge material to restore and create coastal habitats. “We’ve been looking at blue carbon within an applied research context to see where opportunities exist to maximize the storage of carbon within these coastal systems.” This research is important, because as Jeff notes, it links to EWN’s objective of creating environmental and social benefits, in addition to the Corps’ navigation-related mission objectives. “On average, USACE produces about 200 million cubic yards of dredge sediment every year. The idea that we could use this dredge sediment to out-compete sea level rise and replenish salt marsh systems while increasing the potential to sequester carbon is a very good thing. I’m really excited about this work.” “Whenever we can get USACE and NOAA collaborating on these kinds of topics, it really does accelerate our understanding of these complex systems and processes,” Jeff says. The goal is that this foundational research Jenny, Jacob, and Lisa are conducting will ultimately lead to actionable beneficial use of sediments guidance for practitioners in the field. Jeff adds, “Everybody’s thinking about this, and we’re seeing entities like Department of the Navy or Army including blue carbon or carbon sequestration in their climate-action strategies and plans.” For more information and resource links, please visit the EWN Podcast page on the EWN website at https://www.engineeringwithnature.org/ Related Links • Jeff King at LinkedIn • Lisa Chambers at UCF • Jenny Davis at NCCOS • Jacob Berkowitz at ResearchGate