CABESTAN

CABESTAN will improve understanding of the key processes and forcing variables that shape carbon fluxes in coastal wetlands, along the continuum from hinterland wetlands to the intertidal zone. It will conduct cutting-edge research to answer questions regarding how carbon behaves along the different spatiotemporal gradients found in these environments:

• How do tidal, diurnal, and seasonal patterns of carbon capture and recycling affect long-term carbon sequestration?
• How are carbon dynamics affected by the salinity gradient between the intertidal zone and the salt marshes?
• Do eutrophication gradients result in carbon sequestration gradients?
• Do the most productive substrates sequester the most carbon?
• How does climatic and tidal forcing affect the carbon cycle along the Atlantic and French Channel coasts?

CABESTAN’s research will reveal how carbon sequestration patterns in coastal wetlands are likely to shift under climate change. The project will collect data in nine areas located between the Arcachon basin and the Canche estuary with a view to comparing research sites and forcing variables.

Multidisciplinary in nature, CABESTAN will bring together nearly 30 researchers from 9 laboratories, including researchers with site-specific expertise, geochemists, sedimentologists, ecologists, ecophysiologists, and scientists specialising in carbon assimilation and flux measurements, organic matter analysis, remote sensing, and modelling.

Coordinator: Pierre Anschutz, University of Bordeaux

Funding: €1,496,636 for 60 months