Join Cary Institute for a virtual scientific seminar by Dr. Laura Logozzo, Hudson River Foundation. Wetlands are potentially important natural climate solutions, as they uptake carbon dioxide and store carbon in plants and soils. Therefore, wetland protection in regions with a high density of wetlands, like the Canadian Prairies, could help meet climate goals. However, wetlands also emit greenhouse gases (GHGs) like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, which reduces their net capacity to sequester carbon. Agricultural practices such as cropping and livestock grazing, common in the Canadian Prairies and most global regions, impact nearby wetlands, but the effects on wetland GHG emissions are unclear.
In this seminar, Dr. Logozzo will present her recent work from her postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Lethbridge, where she studied wetlands in all three Canadian Prairie provinces to determine whether surrounding agricultural land use shaped wetland water characteristics and GHG emissions. This study found that wetlands located in fields with crops had higher nutrient content (phosphorus) and lower salt content (sulfate), which increased methane emissions compared to wetlands in grazed and idled grassland. Higher methane emissions from wetlands in cropland doubled the total GHG emissions, in carbon dioxide equivalents, compared to wetlands in grassland. This informs how agricultural management practices can reduce wetland GHG emissions and provides estimates of wetland GHG emissions for one of the largest wetland complexes in the world.
Free and open to all. Registration required via Eventbrite.
