Carbon flow in coastal Louisiana
Feijtel TC, DeLaune RD, Patrick WH. 1985. Carbon flow in coastal Louisiana. Marine Ecology Progress Series. 24:255-260
Carbon flux data was synthesized to estimate carbon flow along a salinity gradient in Louisiana's Barataria Basin, a major Gulf Coast estuary (USA). Using a mass balance approach, we found an estuarine carbon surplus of 150 to 250 g m -2 yr -1, which originated primarily in the tidal salt marsh. Carbon export from marshes to adjacent water bodies decreases with distance from the Gulf of Mexico. The Barataria Basin marshes function as important global carbon sinks within this export gradient. High community respiration, methane emission, and carbon accretion resulting from annual carbon fixation reduce carbon export from the nothern part of the basin. Higher primary production, low community respiration, and low methane evolution make the southern part of the basin a source of aquatic carbon.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Feijtel, T.; DeLaune, R.; Patrick, W.
- Units
- JELA
- Keywords
- barataria, Basin, Carbon, Coast, Coastal, Estuary, Flow, gulf, Louisiana, Marshes