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Carbon and nitrogen storage of a restored wetland at Illinois’ Emiquon Preserve: potential for carbon sequestration

  • RIVER FLOODPLAIN RESTORATION
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Abstract

Conversion of wetlands to croplands results in the release of a significant amount of carbon (C) from soil organic matter (SOM) into the atmosphere. Restoring wetlands from croplands has C sequestration potential. The overall goal of our study was to quantify C and N storage of a restored wetland at the Emiquon Preserve, and examine its potential for C sequestration by comparing its C storage with C storage of reference natural wetlands in Illinois. Samples of plants and soils at the restored wetland and four reference wetland sites were collected in 2009 and 2011, respectively. We found that ecosystem storage of organic C (OC) and total N (TN) of the restored wetland was 38.29 Mg C ha−1 and 2.43 Mg N ha−1, respectively. For the reference sites, the average ecosystem storage of OC for sedge meadow and marsh was higher at 136.63 and 52.04 Mg C ha−1, respectively. The soil OC (SOC) storage of the restored wetland was only about 25% of SOC storage of reference sedge meadow sites and 46% of reference marsh site, suggesting that the restored wetland at Emiquon has the potential to sequester a large amount of additional C in the future.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Science Foundation (DBI-0821649) and a University Scholar award from the University of Illinois to HC. In addition, SP was supported by a Natural Sciences Division Student Research Grant from the University of Illinois at Springfield. We want to thank Dr. Mike Lemke for his support and encouragement to initiate this project. The world is a better place due to all his efforts at Emiquon. We also want to thank the Therkildsen Field Station at Emiquon for providing logistic support. In addition, we want to thank the Nature Conservancy of Illinois, especially Mr. Doug Blodgett and Ms. Sally McClure, for allowing us to use their Emiquon Preserve site for this study. Finally, we want to thank Dr. Robert McGregor and Mr. Ben Dolbeare for serving on Sarah Popovich’s graduate committee and Dr. Layne Morsch and Dr. Hong Qian for serving on Benjamin J. Briddell’s graduate committee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Illinois at Springfield, Springfield, IL, USA

    Hua Chen, Sarah Popovich, Amy McEuen & Benjamin Briddell

  2. Jiyang College, Zhejiang A & F University, Hangzhou, China

    Hua Chen

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  1. Hua Chen
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  2. Sarah Popovich
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  3. Amy McEuen
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  4. Benjamin Briddell
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Correspondence to Hua Chen.

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Guest editors: Michael J. Lemke, A. Maria Lemke & Jeffery W. Walk / Large-Scale Floodplain Restoration in the Illinois River Valley

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Chen, H., Popovich, S., McEuen, A. et al. Carbon and nitrogen storage of a restored wetland at Illinois’ Emiquon Preserve: potential for carbon sequestration. Hydrobiologia 804, 139–150 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3218-z

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