Tropical Wetlands Hold More Carbon Than Temperate Marshes
Wednesday, October 8, 2008 - 09:28
in Earth & Climate
Tropical wetlands are able to absorb and hold onto about 80 percent more carbon than can wetlands in temperate zones, according to a new study. The scientists extracted soil cores from wetlands in Costa Rica and in Ohio and analyzed the contents of the sediment from the past 40 years. Based on their analysis, they estimated that the tropical wetland accumulated a little over 1 ton of carbon per acre per year, and the temperate wetland accumulated .6 tons of carbon per acre per year.