Abstract:
Wetland ecosystems are key players in the global carbon cycle.
Understanding the effects of land management, degradation and restoration, on
these systems is critical to developing efficient and effective land management
practices. Monitoring should be extended to ecosystem functions in order to
determine if mitigation results in a no-net loss of wetland function. Our specific
objective was to explore microbial function as a mechanism behind the shift in
carbon cycling after land management treatment We sampled two marsh case
studies, a saltmarsh freshwater complex, each with a reference, restored, and
disturbed site, along the Oregon coast We calculated soil carbon stocks, and
measured CO2 and CH4 production. Microbial function was measured by
performing an extracellular enzyme assay and a catabolic profile. Our results
suggest that restoration in each case study achieved only partial return of soil
carbon function, but the freshwater restoration was closer to the reference
condition. These findings reflect that the freshwater restoration hydrology and
plant community more closely matched the reference condition than in the salt
marsh restoration.
Description:
52 pages. A thesis presented to the Department of Biology and the Clark Honors College of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for degree of Bachelor of Science, Spring 2016.