Carbon Uptake Efficiency Across Wetland Ecosystems in the Florida Everglades

Abstract:

Hydrology drives the carbon balance of wetlands by controlling the uptake and release of CO₂ and CH₄. In the Everglades, hydrology has been linked to seasonal and annual patterns in net ecosystem exchange rates. Short-hydroperiod freshwater marsh productivity is higher during the dry season, while long-hydroperiod freshwater marshes exhibit greater productivity during the wet season. Although they exhibit diverging seasonal patterns, freshwater wetlands are nearly CO₂ neutral (-11 to-110 g CO₂ m^-2 yr^-1). Everglades freshwater wetlands are a sink for CO₂ most of the time but a change in conditions can shift these ecosystems from being a sink to a source .While seasonal patterns might be better explained by aboveground activity in the short-hydroperiod freshwater marsh, changes in respiration rates better explain seasonal variation in long-hydroperiod freshwater marsh.