RAPID: Tipping the Greenhouse C Balance: Hurricane Irma's Role in Increasing the Global Warming Potential in Everglades Ecosystems

University Of Alabama Tuscaloosa, Tuscaloosa AL

Investigators

Abstract

This RAPID research focuses on investigating the hurricane impacts on the carbon cycling of Everglades wetland ecosystems. Hurricane Irma resulted in extensive wind damage and the highest water levels recorded in over 20 years in the Florida Everglades. The findings and predictions that result from this study will directly address larger-scale questions about how wetland ecosystem structure and function and aquatic productivity are altered in the face of increased disturbance from hurricanes. Wetlands within Everglades National Park have been seriously impacted by extensive defoliation, disruption of periphyton mats, large inputs of carbon and nutrients into the soil and water column, and a reduction in standing dead tissue of marsh graminoids. Along with reductions in photosynthesis, these changes may alter anoxic conditions, supporting greater rates of methane production and release. This effort will focus on reductions in leaf area and how this contributes to floating mats of dead material that cause anoxic conditions and 'hotspots' for CH4 production and release of CO2 to the atmosphere. This project includes additional chamber measurements necessary to interpret 'hotspot' carbon fluxes. The broader impacts of this research result from an improved foundational understanding of how wetland systems respond to hurricanes, and the effort will provide an initial vulnerability assessment of the effects of extreme high-water levels on Everglades wetlands. This study also affords research opportunities for junior faculty and technicians from underrepresented minority groups.