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Transformation of agricultural land to natural terrestrial vegetation has been suggested as a means to increase soil carbon storage. However, the capacity for carbon storage in terrestrial soils is limited as compared to soils of tidal salt marshes, the original vegetation of many coastal agricultural lands. In a number of countries, tidal salt marshes have been ''reclaimed,'' that is drained and diked to prevent tidal flooding and create suitable conditions for dry land agriculture. In this study we examine spatial and temporal patterns of carbon accumulation in tidal salt marshes of the Bay of Fundy and estimate the carbon storage potential of the bay's extensive area of reclaimed marsh. Rates of carbon accumulation vary from the upper to the outer Bay, over which there is a gradient of decreasing tidal range and suspended sediment supply. In the outer bay, high-marsh densities are highest (0.042 ± 0.009 g C cm ˇ3 ), but carbon accumulation rates over the past 30 years are lowest (76 g C m ˇ2 yr ˇ1 ). The reverse pattern occurs in the upper bay where carbon densities in the high-marsh environment are lowest (0.036 ± 0.002 g C cm ˇ3 ), but carbon accumulation rates over the past 30 years may be as high (184 g C m ˇ2 yr ˇ1 ). Compared to other ecosystems, the rates of carbon accumulation presented in this study were similar over timescales of years to centuries. Increases in relative sea level (over time) and suspended sediment supply (across the bay) positively affect the marsh soil accumulation rate and the rate of carbon sequestration. Parameters such as %C are not useful predictors of a marsh's potential for carbon sequestration. Soil carbon densities of functioning marshes and reclaimed marsh soils are similar, but marsh soils have a storage capacity that increases with rising sea level, while agricultural soils, such as those in reclaimed marshes, have a fixed (or possibly decreasing in reclaimed marshes) volume over time.

[1] Wetlands represent the largest component of the terrestrial biological carbon pool and thus play an important role in global carbon cycles. Most global carbon budgets, however, have focused on dry land ecosystems that extend over large areas and have not accounted for the many small, scattered carbon-storing ecosystems such as tidal saline wetlands. We compiled data for 154 sites in mangroves and salt marshes from the western and eastern Atlantic and Pacific coasts, as well as the Indian Ocean, Mediterranean Ocean, and Gulf of Mexico. The set of sites spans a latitudinal range from 22.4°S in the Indian Ocean to 55.5°N in the northeastern Atlantic. The average soil carbon density of mangrove swamps (0.055 ± 0.004 g cm−3) is significantly higher than the salt marsh average (0.039 ± 0.003 g cm−3). Soil carbon density in mangrove swamps and Spartina patens marshes declines with increasing average annual temperature, probably due to increased decay rates at higher temperatures. In contrast, carbon sequestration rates were not significantly different between mangrove swamps and salt marshes. Variability in sediment accumulation rates within marshes is a major control of carbon sequestration rates masking any relationship with climatic parameters. Globally, these combined wetlands store at least 44.6 Tg C yr−1 and probably more, as detailed areal inventories are not available for salt marshes in China and South America. Much attention has been given to the role of freshwater wetlands, particularly northern peatlands, as carbon sinks. In contrast to peatlands, salt marshes and mangroves release negligible amounts of greenhouse gases and store more carbon per unit area.

Recent archaeological excavations on the heads (i.e., the most elevated and upstream parts) of several large Everglades fixed tree islands may reshape what is understood about the age and formation of these landforms, and about the role of humans in the early Everglades wetland, between 3500 and 1000 B.C. Tree islands are patches of high ground, dry enough to support trees, that rise about 1 meter above the surrounding wetland, and those islands termed “fixed” are the large teardrop-shaped islands thought to have formed over localized high points in the underlying bedrock (Figures 1a and 1b). A hard, cemented carbonate layer perched in the sediments of two tree islands in the southern Everglades was discovered by U.S. National Park Service archaeologists, and penetration of it with a concrete saw revealed that beneath the layer are unconsolidated sediments containing archaeological artifacts dating back to late-Archaic times (3000–1000 B.C.) [Schwadron, 2006].