Report on CICEET grant research in coordination with\ud Laura Brophy, Marine Resource Management Program, OSU-COAS\ud September 2009-June 2011

Graduation date: 2011Tidal wetlands are a powerful carbon sink. They can sequester an order of magnitude\ud more carbon than any other type of wetland system, and emit only negligible amounts\ud of methane compared with freshwater wetlands (Brigham et al. 2006, Whiting and\ud Chanton 2001). Soil carbon in tidal wetlands can also affect soil ecology and influence\ud wetland functions such as nutrient processing and foodweb support. We quantified\ud carbon content in the top 30 cm of soil in 17 tidal wetlands in Oregon and tested the\ud hypothesis that there is a difference in the soil carbon content of unrestored, restored,\ud and least‐disturbed tidal wetlands. Sampling occurred in three unrestored sites; four\ud ii\ud restored sites; and ten least‐disturbed reference sites. The average concentration of soil\ud organic carbon in reference site soils was 15.7%, 13.5% in restored soils, and 8.6% in\ud unrestored soils. Percent carbon values in unrestored sites were significantly different\ud from the other two groups (p < 0.001), but values from reference and restored sites\ud were not significantly different (p > 0.1). The similarity between soil carbon in reference\ud and restored sites may support previous work that suggests rapid carbon accumulation\ud after restoration (Craft 2007)