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Standing Dead Trees are a Conduit for the Atmospheric Flux of CH4 and CO2 from Wetlands

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Abstract

In vegetated wetland ecosystems, plants can be a dominant pathway in the atmospheric flux of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Although the roles of herbaceous vegetation and live woody vegetation in this flux have been established, the role of dead woody vegetation is not yet known. In a restored wetland of North Carolina’s coastal plain, static flux chambers were deployed at two heights on standing dead trees to determine if these structures acted as a conduit for methane emissions. Methane fluxes to the atmosphere were measured in five of the chambers, with a mean flux of 0.4 ± 0.1 mg m−2 h−1. Methane consumption was also measured in three of the chambers, with a mean flux of −0.6 ± 0.3 mg m−2 h−1. Standing dead trees were also a source of the flux of CO2 (114.6 ± 23.8 mg m−2 h−1) to the atmosphere. Results confirm that standing dead trees represent a conduit for the atmospheric flux of carbon gases from wetlands. However, several questions remain regarding the ultimate source of these carbon gases, the controls on the magnitude and direction of this flux, the mechanisms that induce this flux, and the importance of this pathway relative to other sources at the landscape level.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Marcelo Ardón, Emily S. Bernhardt, Sunitha R. Pangala, and the Fall 2014 EcoLunch Discussion group at Wake Forest University for advice and helpful discussion, Katherine Juarez, Ashley Metcalf, Ted Primka, Parastou Ranjbar, and Sean Taylor for field assistance, and Scott Cory for assistance with statistical analyses. M.J. Carmichael was supported by an American Association of University Women American Fellowship, and by the Garden Club of America, The Wetland Foundation, and the Wake Forest University Department of Biology. M.J. Carmichael and J.C. White also received support from the Charles H. Babcock Foundation.

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  1. Department of Biology, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC, 27109, USA

    Mary Jane Carmichael, Joseph C. White & William K. Smith

  2. Department of Natural Resources & the Environment and the Center for Environmental Sciences & Engineering, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA

    Ashley M. Helton

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  1. Mary Jane Carmichael
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  2. Ashley M. Helton
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Correspondence to Mary Jane Carmichael.

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The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Carmichael, M.J., Helton, A.M., White, J.C. et al. Standing Dead Trees are a Conduit for the Atmospheric Flux of CH4 and CO2 from Wetlands. Wetlands 38, 133–143 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-017-0963-8

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