Methane fluxes in tidal marshes of the conterminous United States

Ariane Arias-Ortiz; Jaxine Wolfe; Scott D Bridgham; Sara Knox; Gavin McNicol; Brian A Needelman; Julie Shahan; Ellen J Stuart-Haëntjens; Lisamarie Windham-Myers; Patty Y Oikawa; Dennis D Baldocchi; Joshua S Caplan; Margaret Capooci; Kenneth M Czapla; R Kyle Derby; Heida L Diefenderfer; Inke Forbrich; Gina Groseclose; Jason K Keller; Cheryl Kelley; Amr E Keshta; Helena S Kleiner; Ken W Krauss; Robert R Lane; Sarah Mack; Serena Moseman-Valtierra; Thomas J Mozdzer; Peter Mueller; Scott C Neubauer; Genevieve Noyce; Karina V R Schäfer; Rebecca Sanders-DeMott; Charles A Schutte; Rodrigo Vargas; Nathaniel B Weston; Benjamin Wilson; J Patrick Megonigal; James R Holmquist

doi:10.1111/gcb.17462

Methane fluxes in tidal marshes of the conterminous United States

Glob Chang Biol. 2024 Sep;30(9):e17462. doi: 10.1111/gcb.17462.

Authors

Ariane Arias-Ortiz^{1

2}, Jaxine Wolfe³, Scott D Bridgham⁴, Sara Knox^{5

6}, Gavin McNicol⁷, Brian A Needelman⁸, Julie Shahan⁹, Ellen J Stuart-Haëntjens¹⁰, Lisamarie Windham-Myers¹⁰, Patty Y Oikawa¹¹, Dennis D Baldocchi², Joshua S Caplan¹², Margaret Capooci¹³, Kenneth M Czapla¹⁴, R Kyle Derby¹⁵, Heida L Diefenderfer¹⁶, Inke Forbrich^{17

18}, Gina Groseclose¹⁹, Jason K Keller^{20

21}, Cheryl Kelley²², Amr E Keshta^{23

8}, Helena S Kleiner³, Ken W Krauss²⁴, Robert R Lane²⁵, Sarah Mack²⁶, Serena Moseman-Valtierra²⁷, Thomas J Mozdzer²⁸, Peter Mueller²⁹, Scott C Neubauer³⁰, Genevieve Noyce³, Karina V R Schäfer³¹, Rebecca Sanders-DeMott³², Charles A Schutte³³, Rodrigo Vargas¹³, Nathaniel B Weston³⁴, Benjamin Wilson³⁵, J Patrick Megonigal³, James R Holmquist³

Affiliations

¹ Physics Department, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.
² Ecosystem Science Division, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.
³ Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland, USA.
⁴ Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA.
⁵ Department of Geography, The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
⁶ Department of Geography, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
⁷ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
⁸ Department of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, USA.
⁹ Earth System Science, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
¹⁰ U.S. Geological Survey, Water Resources Mission Area, Menlo Park, California, USA.
¹¹ Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, California State University, East Bay, Hayward, California, USA.
¹² Department of Architecture & Environmental Design, Temple University, Ambler, Pennsylvania, USA.
¹³ Department of Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, USA.
¹⁴ Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California Riverside, Riverside, California, USA.
¹⁵ Maryland Department of Natural Resources, Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, Annapolis, Maryland, USA.
¹⁶ Coastal Sciences Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Sequim, Washington, USA.
¹⁷ Ecosystems Center, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA.
¹⁸ Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Toledo, Toledo, Ohio, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
²⁰ Schmid College of Science and Technology, Chapman University, Orange, California, USA.
²¹ Kravis Department of Integrated Sciences, Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, California, USA.
²² Department of Geological Sciences, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA.
²³ Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.
²⁴ U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA.
²⁵ Comite Resources, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA.
²⁶ Tierra Resources LLC, Lafitte, Louisiana, USA.
²⁷ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Rhode Island, Kingston, Rhode Island, USA.
²⁸ Bryn Mawr College, Department of Biology, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, USA.
²⁹ Institute of Landscape Ecology, University of Münster, Münster, Germany.
³⁰ Department of Biology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
³¹ Earth and Environmental Science Dept, Rutgers University Newark, Newark, New Jersey, USA.
³² U.S. Geological Survey, Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center, Woods Hole, Massachusetts, USA.
³³ Department of Environmental Science, Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey, USA.
³⁴ Department of Geography and the Environment, Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania, USA.
³⁵ Department of Biological Sciences, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA.

PMID: 39234688
DOI: 10.1111/gcb.17462

Abstract

Methane (CH₄) is a potent greenhouse gas (GHG) with atmospheric concentrations that have nearly tripled since pre-industrial times. Wetlands account for a large share of global CH₄ emissions, yet the magnitude and factors controlling CH₄ fluxes in tidal wetlands remain uncertain. We synthesized CH₄ flux data from 100 chamber and 9 eddy covariance (EC) sites across tidal marshes in the conterminous United States to assess controlling factors and improve predictions of CH₄ emissions. This effort included creating an open-source database of chamber-based GHG fluxes (https://doi.org/10.25573/serc.14227085). Annual fluxes across chamber and EC sites averaged 26 ± 53 g CH₄ m^-2 year^-1, with a median of 3.9 g CH₄ m^-2 year^-1, and only 25% of sites exceeding 18 g CH₄ m^-2 year^-1. The highest fluxes were observed at fresh-oligohaline sites with daily maximum temperature normals (MATmax) above 25.6°C. These were followed by frequently inundated low and mid-fresh-oligohaline marshes with MATmax ≤25.6°C, and mesohaline sites with MATmax >19°C. Quantile regressions of paired chamber CH₄ flux and porewater biogeochemistry revealed that the 90th percentile of fluxes fell below 5 ± 3 nmol m^-2 s^-1 at sulfate concentrations >4.7 ± 0.6 mM, porewater salinity >21 ± 2 psu, or surface water salinity >15 ± 3 psu. Across sites, salinity was the dominant predictor of annual CH₄ fluxes, while within sites, temperature, gross primary productivity (GPP), and tidal height controlled variability at diel and seasonal scales. At the diel scale, GPP preceded temperature in importance for predicting CH₄ flux changes, while the opposite was observed at the seasonal scale. Water levels influenced the timing and pathway of diel CH₄ fluxes, with pulsed releases of stored CH₄ at low to rising tide. This study provides data and methods to improve tidal marsh CH₄ emission estimates, support blue carbon assessments, and refine national and global GHG inventories.

Keywords: contiguous United States; eddy covariance; flux chamber; methane; open‐source database; predictors; synthesis; tidal wetlands.

© 2024 Smithsonian Institution and The Author(s). Global Change Biology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.

MeSH terms

Environmental Monitoring
Greenhouse Gases* / analysis
Methane* / analysis
Methane* / metabolism
Seasons
Temperature
United States
Wetlands*

Substances

Methane
Greenhouse Gases

Abstract

MeSH terms

Substances

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