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Hydro-ecological Controls on Soil Carbon Storage in Subtropical Freshwater Depressional Wetlands

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Abstract

Several ecological factors, including hydrology, soil type, and vegetation, influence wetland soil carbon (C) storage, but the relationship among these factors is complex making it difficult to evaluate the potential for increased C storage in natural and restored systems. This study investigated the relationship between hydrologic variables, wetland plant communities, and wetland soil C storage in the upper 50 cm of soil in three wetland community types (bay swamp, cypress swamp, freshwater marsh) in a hydrologically restored subtropical landscape in central Florida, USA. Mean water table depth relative to ground elevation was a better predictor than hydroperiod of surface soil C stock and was positively related to soil C stock in marshes. However, the overall effect of water table depth was small and was often outweighed by other factors including wetland vegetation type and local site conditions. Bay swamps had the highest soil C stock, followed by cypress swamp, marsh, and upland ecotone, respectively. This study highlights the importance of understanding the interplay among multiple factors that drive variation in soil C stock within and among wetland types in these landscapes, and the importance of deeper soil layers to wetland soil C storage at the landscape scale.

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Data Availability

The summary dataset used for the main analysis in this paper are deposited in the Zenodo data repository at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.4678433. These data include ground elevation, plant community type, soil bulk density, soil organic matter and soil C by soil layer, and water depth and hydroperiod for all sampling points. Additional data including original datasets, GIS files and other information are available from the authors on reasonable request.

Code Availability

The R code used in the analyses is available from the main author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the National Science Foundation under WSC Category 2 Collaborative award (No. 1204380). We would like to thank The Nature Conservancy for site access and data. We would also like to thank Jessica Sandoval, Shelby Turner, Gina Barrella, Paul Boudreau, Robert Duarte, Ryan Hammond, Jeremy Piacente, Tiffani Manteuffel, John Guziejka, Havalend Steinmuller, and Ian Biazzo for assistance in the field and lab. K. Glodzik provided estimates for wetland composition of the N. Everglades.

Funding

This research was supporting by NSF WSC Category 2 Collaborative award No. 1204380.

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  1. Department of Biology, University of Central Florida, 4110 Libra Drive, Orlando, FL, 32816, USA

    Alicia Davila & Patrick J. Bohlen

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  1. Alicia Davila
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AD oversaw data collection and processing, did the statistical analysis and modeling, and produced the original manuscript draft. PB contributed to study design, writing, editing and interpretation.

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Correspondence to Patrick J. Bohlen.

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Davila, A., Bohlen, P.J. Hydro-ecological Controls on Soil Carbon Storage in Subtropical Freshwater Depressional Wetlands. Wetlands 41, 66 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-021-01453-2

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