Carbon Accumulation and Storage in a Temperate Coastal Lagoon under the
Influence of Recent Climate Change (Northwestern Adriatic Sea)
Abstract
Pialassa Baiona is a shallow temperate coastal lagoon influenced by a
variety of factors, including regional climate change and local
anthropogenic disturbances. To better understand how these factors
influenced modern organic carbon (OC) sources and accumulation, we
measured OC as well as stable carbon isotopes (d13C)
in 210Pb-dated sediments within a vegetated saltmarsh
habitat and a human impacted habitat. Relative Sea Level (RSL) at the
nearby tide gauge station data and four different Sea Surface
Temperature (SST) data sets were analyzed starting from 1900 to assess
the potential effect of sea ingression and warming on the coastal lagoon
sedimentary process. The source contribution calculated from the MixSIAR
Bayesian model revealed a mixed sedimentary organic matter (OM)
composition dominated by increasing marine-derived OM after the 1950s,
parallel with decreasing autochthonous saltmarsh vegetation
(Juncus spp.) in the saltmarsh habitat and
riverine-estuarine-derived OM in the impacted habitat. RSL rise in the
area (8.7±0.5 mm yr−1 in the period 1900-2014) has
been mainly driven by the land subsidence, especially during the central
decades of the last century, enhancing the sea ingression in the lagoon.
Annual SST anomalies present, starting from the eighties, a continuous
warming tendency from 0.034±0.01 to 0.044±0.009°C
yr-1. No direct effect on sedimentary properties was
detected; however, RSL influenced OM sediment properties, although this
effect was different between the two habitats.