Collection, analysis, and age-dating of sediment cores from mangrove and salt marsh ecosystems in Tampa Bay, Florida, 2015

Coastal wetlands in Tampa Bay, Florida, are important ecosystems that deliver a variety of ecosystem services. Key to ecosystem functioning is wetland response to sea-level rise through accumulation of mineral and organic sediment. The organic sediment within coastal wetlands is composed of carbon sequestered over the time scale of the wetland’s existence. This study was conducted to provide information on soil accretion and carbon storage rates across a variety of coastal ecosystems that was utilized in the Tampa Bay Blue Carbon Assessment (ESA, 2017; linkage below). Ten sediment cores were collected from six Tampa Bay wetland sites in October 2015 (maximum core length 40 centimeters). Three main vegetation types were targeted for [...]