Using citizen science to estimate surficial soil Blue Carbon stocks in Great British saltmarshes

Craig Smeaton; Annette Burden; Paulina Ruranska; Cai Ladd; Angus Garbutt; Laurence Jones; Lucy McMahon; Lucy C. Miller; Martin W. Skov; William Austin

doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.959459

Using citizen science to estimate surficial soil Blue Carbon stocks in Great British saltmarshes

Craig Smeaton^*, Annette Burden, Paulina Ruranska, Cai Ladd, Angus Garbutt, Laurence Jones, Lucy McMahon, Lucy C. Miller, Martin W. Skov, William Austin

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

A new saltmarsh soil dataset comprising of geochemical and physical property data from 752 soil samples collected through a sampling program supported by citizen scientists has been brought together with existing data to make the first national 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 estimate a new bespoke organic matter to organic carbon conversion for GB saltmarsh soil was developed allowing organic matter data measured using loss-on-ignition to be convert to organic carbon content. The total GB surficial soil OC stock 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 hold 0.351 ± 0.082 Mt OC. The stocks were calculated within a Markov Chain Monte Carlo framework allowing robust uncertainty estimates to be derived for the first time. Spatial mapping tools are available to accompany these stock estimates at individual saltmarsh habitats throughout GB. This data will aid in the protection and management of saltmarshes and represents the first steps towards the inclusion of saltmarsh OC in the national inventory accounting of blue carbon ecosystems.

Original language	English
Article number	959459
Number of pages	16
Journal	Frontiers in Marine Science
Volume	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3389/fmars.2022.959459
Publication status	Published - 11 Aug 2022

Keywords

Saltmarsh
Carbon
Vegetation
Coastal
Soil
Wetland
Scotland
England
Wales
Organic matter
Citizen science
Spatial mapping
Great Britain

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10.3389/fmars.2022.959459Licence: CC BY

Smeaton-2022-Using-citizen-science-FMARS-09-959459
Copyright © 2022 Smeaton, Burden, Ruranska, Ladd, Garbutt, Jones, McMahon, Miller, Skov and Austin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Final published version, 33.7 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

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title = "Using citizen science to estimate surficial soil Blue Carbon stocks in Great British saltmarshes",

abstract = "A new saltmarsh soil dataset comprising of geochemical and physical property data from 752 soil samples collected through a sampling program supported by citizen scientists has been brought together with existing data to make the first national 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 estimate a new bespoke organic matter to organic carbon conversion for GB saltmarsh soil was developed allowing organic matter data measured using loss-on-ignition to be convert to organic carbon content. The total GB surficial soil OC stock 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 hold 0.351 ± 0.082 Mt OC. The stocks were calculated within a Markov Chain Monte Carlo framework allowing robust uncertainty estimates to be derived for the first time. Spatial mapping tools are available to accompany these stock estimates at individual saltmarsh habitats throughout GB. This data will aid in the protection and management of saltmarshes and represents the first steps towards the inclusion of saltmarsh OC in the national inventory accounting of blue carbon ecosystems.",

keywords = "Saltmarsh, Carbon, Vegetation, Coastal, Soil, Wetland, Scotland, England, Wales, Organic matter, Citizen science, Spatial mapping, Great Britain",

author = "Craig Smeaton and Annette Burden and Paulina Ruranska and Cai Ladd and Angus Garbutt and Laurence Jones and Lucy McMahon and Miller, {Lucy C.} and Skov, {Martin W.} and William Austin",

note = "Funding: This research was finically supported by the Natural Environment Research Council funded Carbon Storage in Intertidal Environments (C-SIDE) project (grant NE/R010846/1) with additional support from the Scottish Blue Carbon Forum.",

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month = aug,

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doi = "10.3389/fmars.2022.959459",

language = "English",

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AU - Smeaton, Craig

AU - Burden, Annette

AU - Ruranska, Paulina

AU - Ladd, Cai

AU - Garbutt, Angus

AU - Jones, Laurence

AU - McMahon, Lucy

AU - Miller, Lucy C.

AU - Skov, Martin W.

AU - Austin, William

N1 - Funding: This research was finically supported by the Natural Environment Research Council funded Carbon Storage in Intertidal Environments (C-SIDE) project (grant NE/R010846/1) with additional support from the Scottish Blue Carbon Forum.

PY - 2022/8/11

Y1 - 2022/8/11

N2 - A new saltmarsh soil dataset comprising of geochemical and physical property data from 752 soil samples collected through a sampling program supported by citizen scientists has been brought together with existing data to make the first national 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 estimate a new bespoke organic matter to organic carbon conversion for GB saltmarsh soil was developed allowing organic matter data measured using loss-on-ignition to be convert to organic carbon content. The total GB surficial soil OC stock 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 hold 0.351 ± 0.082 Mt OC. The stocks were calculated within a Markov Chain Monte Carlo framework allowing robust uncertainty estimates to be derived for the first time. Spatial mapping tools are available to accompany these stock estimates at individual saltmarsh habitats throughout GB. This data will aid in the protection and management of saltmarshes and represents the first steps towards the inclusion of saltmarsh OC in the national inventory accounting of blue carbon ecosystems.

AB - A new saltmarsh soil dataset comprising of geochemical and physical property data from 752 soil samples collected through a sampling program supported by citizen scientists has been brought together with existing data to make the first national 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 estimate a new bespoke organic matter to organic carbon conversion for GB saltmarsh soil was developed allowing organic matter data measured using loss-on-ignition to be convert to organic carbon content. The total GB surficial soil OC stock 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 hold 0.351 ± 0.082 Mt OC. The stocks were calculated within a Markov Chain Monte Carlo framework allowing robust uncertainty estimates to be derived for the first time. Spatial mapping tools are available to accompany these stock estimates at individual saltmarsh habitats throughout GB. This data will aid in the protection and management of saltmarshes and represents the first steps towards the inclusion of saltmarsh OC in the national inventory accounting of blue carbon ecosystems.

KW - Saltmarsh

KW - Carbon

KW - Vegetation

KW - Coastal

KW - Soil

KW - Wetland

KW - Scotland

KW - England

KW - Wales

KW - Organic matter

KW - Citizen science

KW - Spatial mapping

KW - Great Britain

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DO - 10.3389/fmars.2022.959459

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VL - 9

JO - Frontiers in Marine Science

JF - Frontiers in Marine Science

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ER -

Using citizen science to estimate surficial soil Blue Carbon stocks in Great British saltmarshes

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Carbon storage in Intertidal Env: Carbon storage in intertidal environments (C-SIDE)

Physical and geochemical properties of Scottish saltmarsh soils

Dry bulk density, loss on ignition and organic carbon content of surficial soils from Scottish salt marshes, 2018-2019

Spatial mapping of surficial soil organic carbon storage and stocks across Great British saltmarshes

Cite this

Using citizen science to estimate surficial soil Blue Carbon stocks in Great British saltmarshes

Abstract

Keywords

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Projects

Carbon storage in Intertidal Env: Carbon storage in intertidal environments (C-SIDE)

Datasets

Physical and geochemical properties of Scottish saltmarsh soils

Dry bulk density, loss on ignition and organic carbon content of surficial soils from Scottish salt marshes, 2018-2019

Spatial mapping of surficial soil organic carbon storage and stocks across Great British saltmarshes

Cite this