Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Great Lakes Northern Forests CESU
The US Geological Survey is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU for the project titled: ���Coastal marsh transgression and the fate of soil organic carbon under rising sea level���. As sea level rises, organic high marsh will encroach on the terrestrial forest by migrating overland. Preliminary work suggests that rates of wetland expansion into the adjacent upland may accelerate with future sea level rise. To answer the question of what controls marsh transgression will require integrating studies of wetland processes in the vertical dimension with research on the factors that control the lateral position of the wetland/upland boundary. For instance, will wetlands transgress landward at a rate that exceeds seaward displacement? There has been a paucity of research directed to understanding what factors control the lateral position of wetland boundaries and especially the position of the marsh upland ecotone. Process level research in the marsh upland ecotone is needed to better understand what critical environmental and ecological effects occur. Additionally, it is not well known how carbon stores are affected as marshes move upslope. The USGS has initiated an experimental study to better understand what controls marsh transgression and how soil carbon dynamics change across the manipulative treatments. Products should take advantage of this experiment and include an evaluation of how fast marshes transgress upslope, an identification of the source of organic soil carbon along an elevation gradient in a transgressing marsh, and the stability of soil organic pools across the experimental treatments.
Office: Geological Survey
fgraves@usgs.gov
