Role of Wetlands in Carbon Export from Forested Watersheds

forWater Network researchers at Dalhousie University are working with Halifax Water and Westfor Management Inc. to determine how the Pockwock forested watershed can be managed to improve water treatability. A key issue here is the movement of dissolved organic carbon (DOC). DOC movement from the land to the water has increased in recent decades, and that increases the cost of treating drinking water to acceptable standards. The Halifax study centres on integrated simulation modelling to build and analyze long-term scenarios of forest management and climate change and their effects on DOC levels in Lake Pockwock. The modelling is supported by monitoring of water moving through the forested landscape as well as detailed measurements of the carbon stocks in the forests themselves. The work proposed herein is to make a thorough quantification of a critical but poorly understood component of ecosystem carbon – that of the wetlands. As part of the field program to characterize all major components of the terrestrial-ecosystem carbon pools, the student will take samples of wetland organic soils (to be analyzed for carbon in a commercial lab) and analyze those carbon pools for incorporation into the simulation models.

Faculty Supervisor:

Peter Duinker

Student:

Charlotte Large

Partner:

Westfor Management Inc

Discipline:

Environmental sciences

Sector:

Agriculture

University:

Dalhousie University