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Leah M. Domine
Leah M. Domine 
The Edward D. and Sally M. Futch Graduate Fellowship
Mechanisms Influencing Carbon Sequestration in Prairie Pothole Wetlands
Climate change caused by increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration is mitigated by carbon sequestration in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Small ecosystems such as wetlands, lakes, rivers and reservoirs typically have not been included in carbon cycling analyses due to their relatively small global surface area. However, these “small” ecosystems have been found to have a disproportionately large impact on regional carbon cycling. As we are beginning to understand the amount of carbon stored in these systems, our knowledge of how specific ecosystems store carbon and what drives these processes in small freshwater ecosystems is limited.
Leah’s doctoral dissertation will help answer these questions by intensively sampling 10 wetlands in the Prairie Pothole Region. Leah will explore how water clarity and differences in decomposition processes control carbon storage. In addition to carbon sequestration, key processes involved in carbon storage such as terrestrial input, net ecosystem production, decomposition and carbon export will be evaluated in these wetlands within and between multiple years.
