UK's muddy saltmarshes vital to tackle climate change

Victoria Gill

Science Correspondent, BBC News

Saltmarsha is a buffer area between the land and the sea and serve as natural flood rescue

The WWF image shows a salt from the top. Jowar water channels flow through an uneven, marshy land grass and green landscape of other plants. — Saltmarsha is a buffer area between the land and the sea and serve as natural flood rescue

According to a new WWF report, UK salt salt is important “sinks” that locks climate-hot greenhouse gases into mud.

Most of the Britain’s salt is lost to agriculture, but Dan says they are unheard heroes in nature’s fight against climate change.

It is now calling to connect these dirty, tidal houses Official UK inventory How much carbon is emitted and how much is removed from our environment every year.

This formal recognition, it hopes, provides an incentive to restore and protect these sites.

Greenhouse gas monitoring station was installed to protect it from saltwater and debris on a tower

Victoria Gill/BBC image shows a yellow tower that is made of scaffolding sticks that sit in a green carpet of marshy grass. The tower is equipped with analytical devices measuring gases in the atmosphere around salt — Greenhouse gas monitoring station was installed to protect it from saltwater and debris on a tower

Working with researchers at the UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology, a WWF team set up a solar-operated greenhouse gas monitoring stations in northwest England on a Saltmarsha Heske Out Marsh, which has been restored and managed by RSPB.

During one year – analysis of gases flowing around the marsh around the marsh – it turned out how plants are breathing in more carbon dioxide “in the summer” in the winter “in the breath”.

These new conclusions are built on previous studies that have measured the amount of carbon in mud mud.

To take it out, the team fixed analytical tools made of scaffolding sticks for a strong 2.5 meter long tower. The site is filled with tide regularly, so the tower has protected its kit with salt water and debris.

As the Ocean Conservation Specialist of WWF, Tom Brook as our guide, we awakened through the thigh-high grass to visit the experiment site.

Wading birds such as avocates have developed bills to skim food with especially tidal mud and lagoon.

RSPB image shows an avoset-a specificly pattern black and white wading bird — Wading birds such as avocates have developed bills to skim food with especially tidal mud and lagoon.

In low tide, the sea does not appear beyond the expansion of the meadow, but the area is covered with driftwood, some plastic waste and there is also a small, fierce boat nearby.

Tom said, “Plants grow here so quickly in spring and summer that they grow almost each other – layering and disintegrating,” Tom said. “It catches carbon in the soil. So when we usually teach how trees breathe in carbon and store in wood, then salt marshes are doing this as mud here.

“So mud here is as important for climate mitigation as trees.”

The WWF has published its first year’s findings, published in a report in a report in a report. Unusually, it has been co-exploited with an insurance company that is interested in understanding the role of these sites, protecting homes from coastal floods.

Since 1860, Britain has lost about 85% of its salt. He was seen as a useless land and many were swept away for agriculture.

Victoria Gill/BBC News the image near Preston in North-Western England shows a sunny scene on Hesketh Out Marsh. The water level in the tidal stream is low, revealing layers of uneven soil. There are long grass and flowering plants that grow across the marsh and the sky is bright blue. — Carbon is locked in marshy soil layers

Hesketh Out Marsh has been restored – Wildlife Charity was purchased by RSPB and flooded again by Tide. Now, in late spring, this bird is temperature with life. Different types of species, including avocates, oyster -catch and black -tailed Godwits, examine mud for food and nests on the ground between lagoon and streams.

Researchers hope that the findings will help restore and protect these dirty bufferzones between the land and the sea.

“Mud here is very important,” Alex Pigot, RSPB warden explained in Hesketh Out Marsh. “It is like a service station for birds.”

With their different -sized bills – some ideal for scooping and some for investigation – Marsharsa birds feed in tide mud.

“We know that these sites also act as a natural flood defense, and they store carbon,” said Ms. Pigot. “Any of these houses that we can restore will be a big win for nature.”