Sessions
Symposium: Wetland soils & carbon
1:30 PM - 5:00 PM Wed
Title: Carbon in WI: Where, how much, how resilient
Abstract: Land managers, landowners, and researchers have expressed a growing interest in Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) as one tool to mitigate the harmful effects of ongoing climate change. NCS includes existing and novel land management and restoration approaches that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, enhance carbon sequestration, and/or protect storage of carbon reservoirs. Wisconsin is blessed with abundant NCS opportunities in its fertile agricultural lands, expansive managed forests, and numerous freshwater wetlands and lakes. However, there is limited information on how to identify NCS targets, measure the outcome of a mitigation approach, and monitor long-term resilience of those approaches in a changing climate, especially for wetlands. Wetland soils hold some of the densest stocks of carbon per hectare in the entire state. Here, I review what we know or don't know about Wisconsin wetland greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sinks, and how their relative potential to NCS compares to other ecosystems around the state.
Bio: Ankur Desai is Reid Bryson Professor of Climate, People, and Environment in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at UW-Madison. His lab studies ecosystems and climate. He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and environmental studies from Oberlin College, a master's degree in Geography from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. in Meteorology from Penn State University.