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Start Date
7-8-2022 12:15 PM
End Date
7-8-2022 1:00 PM
Abstract
Increased atmospheric carbon emissions of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane acerbate climate change through carbon cycle disruption. Riparian areas offer substantial ecosystem services such as water filtration, slowing and cooling, and, as is being discovered, a significant carbon sink. Total percent carbon and carbon stocks in restored riparian areas are not well understood but restoring riparian portions of agricultural lands may serve as a multifaceted approach to limit climate impacts through stream temperature reduction and sequestering carbon.This study analyzed 14 years of current restoration project data in the Tualatin watershed. Nutrient and carbon concentrations and specific fungal guild presence was compared in two unrestored sites to understand the role of restoration in achieving carbon goals.We found that when compared to unrestored riparian areas, carbon sequestration levels nearly doubled while other nutrients (N, P, and K) plateaued at year 14. Mycorrhizal fungi species proportions were explored as a possible correlation to increases in carbon. Twenty-nine arbuscular and 56 ectomycorrhizal fungi species were identified from soil samples across sites. Overall, we found no correlation between mycorrhizal species proportions, time since restoration, or carbon percentage with univariate, quasibinomial analysis. However, non-parametric multidimensional scaling (NMS) fungal community plots provided multivariate insight that unique fungal community composition may correlate with carbon percentage in riparian areas along the Tualatin.Thus, restoration of riparian areas from previous agricultural lands appears to greatly influence carbon percentages and carbon stocks, and fungal community composition may correlate to increased carbon accumulation in restored areas.
Subjects
Climate Change, Soil science, Land/watershed management
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40466
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Captions
Lunch and Learn: Carbon Sequestration Potential After Riparian Restoration-A Baseline Study of Carbon Stocks and Mycorrhizal Communities
Increased atmospheric carbon emissions of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and methane acerbate climate change through carbon cycle disruption. Riparian areas offer substantial ecosystem services such as water filtration, slowing and cooling, and, as is being discovered, a significant carbon sink. Total percent carbon and carbon stocks in restored riparian areas are not well understood but restoring riparian portions of agricultural lands may serve as a multifaceted approach to limit climate impacts through stream temperature reduction and sequestering carbon.This study analyzed 14 years of current restoration project data in the Tualatin watershed. Nutrient and carbon concentrations and specific fungal guild presence was compared in two unrestored sites to understand the role of restoration in achieving carbon goals.We found that when compared to unrestored riparian areas, carbon sequestration levels nearly doubled while other nutrients (N, P, and K) plateaued at year 14. Mycorrhizal fungi species proportions were explored as a possible correlation to increases in carbon. Twenty-nine arbuscular and 56 ectomycorrhizal fungi species were identified from soil samples across sites. Overall, we found no correlation between mycorrhizal species proportions, time since restoration, or carbon percentage with univariate, quasibinomial analysis. However, non-parametric multidimensional scaling (NMS) fungal community plots provided multivariate insight that unique fungal community composition may correlate with carbon percentage in riparian areas along the Tualatin.Thus, restoration of riparian areas from previous agricultural lands appears to greatly influence carbon percentages and carbon stocks, and fungal community composition may correlate to increased carbon accumulation in restored areas.