DFG Graduiertenkolleg RTG 2530

Role of biota for carbon cycling in estuaries

The mission of the DFG-funded Research Training Group „Biota-mediated effects on Carbon cycling in Estuaries“ is to provide Doctoral and Postdoctoral Researchers an outstanding platform for their career development and to systematically analyse the role of indirect effects of biota on estuarine carbon cycling.

By a combination of ecological, biochemical, and molecular approaches, key processes of the carbon cycle will be analysed in the rhizosphere of marshes, at the sediment surface of intertidal flats, and on organic matter aggregates in estuarine channels.

Sample site Hollerwettern in the Elbe marshlands (Picture: Juliane Lenz, Hereon)

As part of this Research Training Group, we are looking at the interaction of the release of methane and nitrous oxide in soils and sediments in the Elbe estuary, as well as the formation pathways of greenhouse gases under the influence of global change, with a focus on changes in salinity and temperature rise. Nitrification also plays an important role in the nitrogen balance and greenhouse gas release in estuaries, as it produces bioavailable nitrate and, under certain conditions, nitrous oxide, and fixes carbon.

For the investigations, soil samples are taken and incubated at different locations and at different times of the year in the tidal marsh of the Elbe. In addition, mesocosms are set up where the influence of certain parameters such as salinity can be analysed under controlled conditions.

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