Drivers of Carbon Change in Coastal Areas

Hakemuksen tiivistelmä

Coastal areas play an important role in the carbon cycling. Terrestrial organic matter is delivered to these transitional environments and can be either buried or remineralized. Nutrient inputs from drainage basins can promote aquatic productivity, which, if excessive, can cause eutrophication and lead to deterioration of water quality. Changes in climate patterns and land use over the adjacent catchments are important factors influencing carbon supply and cycling in coastal areas. In order to better understand the consequences of environmental changes on the coastal carbon cycling, we need information on how changes in drainage basins under different anthropogenic pressures affected the delivery of organic matter to the coast. Although eutrophication around Finnish coast have received attention in recent decades, only a few localized studies have focused on studying how changes in land use and thus in the delivery of terrestrial organic matter affected carbon cycling in Finnish coastal areas. Land use and climate patterns are likely to continue to change throughout the 21st century. Therefore, understanding how the carbon cycle has evolved over the past century can help us to understand and predict the future changes. The purpose of this proposal is to identify historical and geographical drivers of changes in carbon input to the Finnish coastal areas. In order to do this, I will analyse geochemical proxies of organic matter in sediment cores retrieved from different sampling sites along the Finnish coastline. This approach will allow me to understand the historical evolution of the organic matter in coastal areas, considering terrestrial, aquatic and microbial sources. The spatial coverage of this proposal will allow me to infer whether and how different land use changes may have affected the carbon cycle.