TY - JOUR

T1 - Using citizen science to estimate surficial soil blue carbon stocks in Great British saltmarshes

AU - Smeaton, Craig

AU - Burden, Annette

AU - Ruranska, Paulina

AU - Ladd, Cai J.T.

AU - Garbutt, Angus

AU - Jones, Laurence

AU - McMahon, Lucy

AU - Miller, Lucy C.

AU - Skov, Martin

AU - Austin, William E.N.

PY - 2022/8/11

Y1 - 2022/8/11

N2 - A new saltmarsh soil dataset comprising of geochemical and physical propertydata from 752 soil samples collected through a sampling program supported bycitizen scientists has been brought together with existing data to make the firstnational estimates of the surficial (top 10 cm) soil OC stock for Great British (GB)saltmarshes. To allow the inclusion of secondary data in the soil stock estimatea new bespoke organic matter to organic carbon conversion for GB saltmarshsoil was developed allowing organic matter data measured using loss-onignition to be convert to organic carbon content. The total GB surficial soil OCstock is 2.320 ± 0.470 Mt; English saltmarshes hold 1.601 ± 0.426 Mt OC,Scottish saltmarshes hold 0.368 ± 0.091 Mt OC, and Welsh saltmarshes hold0.351 ± 0.082 Mt OC. The stocks were calculated within a Markov Chain MonteCarlo framework allowing robust uncertainty estimates to be derived for thefirst time. Spatial mapping tools are available to accompany these stockestimates at individual saltmarsh habitats throughout GB. This data will aid inthe protection and management of saltmarshes and represents the first stepstowards the inclusion of saltmarsh OC in the national inventory accounting ofblue carbon ecosystems.

AB - A new saltmarsh soil dataset comprising of geochemical and physical propertydata from 752 soil samples collected through a sampling program supported bycitizen scientists has been brought together with existing data to make the firstnational estimates of the surficial (top 10 cm) soil OC stock for Great British (GB)saltmarshes. To allow the inclusion of secondary data in the soil stock estimatea new bespoke organic matter to organic carbon conversion for GB saltmarshsoil was developed allowing organic matter data measured using loss-onignition to be convert to organic carbon content. The total GB surficial soil OCstock is 2.320 ± 0.470 Mt; English saltmarshes hold 1.601 ± 0.426 Mt OC,Scottish saltmarshes hold 0.368 ± 0.091 Mt OC, and Welsh saltmarshes hold0.351 ± 0.082 Mt OC. The stocks were calculated within a Markov Chain MonteCarlo framework allowing robust uncertainty estimates to be derived for thefirst time. Spatial mapping tools are available to accompany these stockestimates at individual saltmarsh habitats throughout GB. This data will aid inthe protection and management of saltmarshes and represents the first stepstowards the inclusion of saltmarsh OC in the national inventory accounting ofblue carbon ecosystems.

U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2022.959459

DO - 10.3389/fmars.2022.959459

M3 - Article

VL - 9

JO - Frontiers in Marine Science

JF - Frontiers in Marine Science

SN - 2296-7745

M1 - 959459

ER -