Two Carleton professors were among the recipients of the Mer Bleue Wetland Conservation Award for their work studying the role wetlands play in slowing climate change and helping protect them.

Elyn Humphreys, an assistant professor in the department of geography and environmental studies, and Donald Smith, a former professor of biology at Carleton, were presented the awards by the National Capital Commission (NCC) Sept. 23.

Humphreys studies soil-plant-atmosphere interactions and carbon fluxes in wetlands as part of the Peatland Carbon Research Team.

Wetlands like Mer Bleue, which is located east of Ottawa, are unique from other ecosystems because they act as “sinks” for carbon, drawing in and storing vast amounts of carbon that would otherwise be in the atmosphere.

Plants like shrubs and moss take in carbon from the atmosphere through photosynthesis, but when these plants decompose, the carbon returns to the atmosphere, Humphreys explained.

However, in wetlands like Mer Bleue, the plants never decompose fully.

“It doesn’t decompose as fast as it’s getting accumulated,” Humphreys said. “It just builds up over millennia,” effectively locking in the stored carbon.
Studying carbon is increasingly important, as the amount in our atmosphere is directly linked to climate change.

“The peatlands are big carbon stores,” Humphreys said. “So the worry was that with climate change . . . all of a sudden there could be warmer and drier conditions in the bog, and the water that was there to slow down decomposition processes isn’t there anymore,”  Humphreys said.

“The consequence would be that the carbon may be released back into the atmosphere through accelerated decomposition.”

Covering over 33 square kilometres and consisting of approximately 8,000 years worth of carbon-rich peat, the effects of climate change on Mer Bleue could be extremely significant, according to Humphreys.

However, studying carbon fluctuations in the wetland could provide concrete evidence on climate change and the possible effects it could have on carbon being released into the atmosphere.   
 
According to Eva Katic, senior land management officer at the NCC, “over 10 per cent of the world’s carbon is stored in wetlands.”

Humphreys and her colleagues have been working at the Mer Bleue wetlands for the past 12 years.

She and her students focus on the factors that influence moss moisture content, which could be “a key determinant of how much carbon dioxide that bog takes up.”

The Mer Bleue Wetland Conservation Award was given to Humphreys and her colleagues because of its global implications as well as its role in keeping Mer Bleue protected.

“From their research, they’re realizing that peat bogs like Mer Bleue are super important for retaining its stored carbon,” said Katic.

Smith also received a Mer Bleue Conservation Award for being instrumental in the protection of the unique wetlands in the 1960s.

The awards were part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the acquisition of the Mer Bleue wetlands by the NCC.

A total of eight awards were presented to scientists from Canada and the United States.