Study: Tropical wetlands store more carbon

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they've determined tropical wetlands can absorb and hold about 80 percent more carbon than can wetlands in temperate areas.

Ohio State University scientists, in what they describe as one of the first comparisons of its kind, extracted soil cores from wetlands in Costa Rica and Ohio, analyzing the sediment of the past 40 years. The scientists determined the temperate Ohio wetland in the study sequesters 80 tons of carbon per year. The tropical wetland stores 300 tons of carbon each year.

"Finding out how much carbon has accumulated over a specific time period gives us an indication of the average rate of carbon sequestration, telling us how valuable each wetland is as a carbon sink," said Ohio State Professor William Mitsch, senior author of the study. "We already know wetlands are outstanding coastal protection systems and yet wetlands continue to be destroyed around the planet.

"Showing that wetlands are gigantic carbon sequestration machines might end up being the most convincing reason yet to preserve them."

The research was presented Wednesday in Houston during the Geological Society of America joint meeting.