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Introducing Freshwater Sources to the Carbon Cycle

Reports and Proceedings

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Introducing Freshwater Sources to the Carbon Cycle

image: Illustration of carbon fluxes in the landscape. Carbon is taken up by the land vegetation by photosynthesis. When the plants die carbon is transferred to soils and can follow the soil water to nearby aquatic environments. There it can partly be emitted as methane (CH4) or carbon dioxide (CO2), and partly be stored in the sediments or follow the water to the sea. In that way freshwater ecosystems function as transporter and storage of carbon at the same time as a large proportion of the carbon is released back to the atmosphere and thereby counteract the uptake by land vegetation. A release of one kilogram of methane counteracts an uptake of 25 kilograms of carbon dioxide by vegetation. The role of freshwaters in landscape greenhouse gas balances has been unclear and carbon emissions from freshwater environments should be monitored in parallel to the monitoring of carbon uptake by land vegetation. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Jan. 7, 2011, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. David Bastviken at Linköping University in Linköping, Sweden, and colleagues was titled, "Freshwater Methane Emissions Offset the Continental Carbon Sink." view more 

Credit: Image © David Bastviken


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