Low Climate Benefit of Nordic Coastal Marshes: Site Conditions Outweigh Grazing Effects and Shape Trade‐Offs Between Carbon Storage and Its Stability

C (related to faster decomposition under warmer conditions and sandier soils). Danish marshes had the highest but also most vulnerable OC stocks due to faster turnover, labile compounds, and coarser soil grain sizes. Although grazing only weakly increased soil OC stocks and had no effect on OC accumulation rates, it significantly reduced methane fluxes compared to ungrazed marshes. In ungrazed areas, methane emissions weakened the carbon sink by 32% in Finland and 68% in Denmark. However, estimated greenhouse gas emissions from on-site cattle, even at low grazing intensity, largely outweighed the coastal marsh climate benefits. A comprehensive Nordic marsh management strategy is needed, extending beyond the focus on their limited, yet relevant, role in climate mitigation, and considering biodiversity, coastal protection and nutrient retention.

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Publication Details

Journal
Global Change Biology
Published
2026-05-01
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.70889
Primary Topic
Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
Type
article
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article

Low Climate Benefit of Nordic Coastal Marshes: Site Conditions Outweigh Grazing Effects and Shape Trade‐Offs Between Carbon Storage and Its Stability

Marianna Lanari, Christoph Reisdorff, Jukka Alm, Mikael von Numers et al.
Global Change Biology
Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
article

Low Climate Benefit of Nordic Coastal Marshes: Site Conditions Outweigh Grazing Effects and Shape Trade‐Offs Between Carbon Storage and Its Stability

Marianna Lanari, Christoph Reisdorff, Jukka Alm, Mikael von Numers, Anaïs Richard, Gary Thomas Banta, Line Holm Andersen, Anu Vehmaa, Christoffer Boström, Franziska Eller, Thomas Ostertag, Johan Eklöf, Carmen Leiva-Dueñas, Pere Masque, Kai Jensen, Ella Logemann, Dorte Krause-Jensen
article en

Abstract

C (related to faster decomposition under warmer conditions and sandier soils). Danish marshes had the highest but also most vulnerable OC stocks due to faster turnover, labile compounds, and coarser soil grain sizes. Although grazing only weakly increased soil OC stocks and had no effect on OC accumulation rates, it significantly reduced methane fluxes compared to ungrazed marshes. In ungrazed areas, methane emissions weakened the carbon sink by 32% in Finland and 68% in Denmark. However, estimated greenhouse gas emissions from on-site cattle, even at low grazing intensity, largely outweighed the coastal marsh climate benefits. A comprehensive Nordic marsh management strategy is needed, extending beyond the focus on their limited, yet relevant, role in climate mitigation, and considering biodiversity, coastal protection and nutrient retention.

Global Change BiologyVol. 32(5)
Edith Cowan University (AU), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande (BR), Åbo Akademi University (FI), University of Turku (FI), Universität Hamburg (DE), Stockholm University (SE), Turku University of Applied Sciences (FI), University of Southern Denmark (DK), Aarhus University (DK), Natural Resources Institute Finland (FI), International Atomic Energy Agency (IT), Aalborg University (DK), University of Rio Grande and Rio Grande Community College (US)
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 11%
Coastal wetland ecosystem dynamics
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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